SENCO

Experience & Knowledge (Essential)

You are looking for someone who:

• Has experience working with children aged 2–5, particularly those with a range of SEND needs
• Understands early identification and intervention
• Has working knowledge of statutory SEND processes, including:
  • Early Support Plans
  • EHCPs
• Has experience making timely referrals to external services
• Demonstrates strong understanding of:
  • Child development
  • EYFS framework
  • Inclusive practice
• Has experience working with:
  • Parents/carers
  • Multi-professional teams
• Knows effective strategies for inclusion and quality first teaching

Skills & Abilities (Essential)

You are looking for someone who can:

• 
  Lead and coordinate SEND provision across more than one setting
  


• 
  Implement and manage the graduated approach (universal, targeted, specialist)
  


• 
  Assess, monitor, and track progress of children with SEND
  


• 
  Support and coach staff with practical strategies and adaptations
  


• 
  Communicate effectively with:
  
  
  
  • 
    Staff
    
  
  
  • 
    Parents
    
  
  
  • 
    External professionals
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Demonstrate strong organisation, time management, and flexibility
  

Desirable Experience & Skills

Stronger candidates may also:

• 
  Hold the National SENCo Award
  


• 
  Have training in:
  
  
  
  • 
    Early intervention
    
  
  
  • 
    Speech and language
    
  
  
  • 
    Inclusion strategies
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Have experience:
  
  
  
  • 
    Identifying complex SEND early
    
  
  
  • 
    Leading CPD or coaching staff
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Be able to:
  
  
  
  • 
    Analyse data to inform provision
    
  
  
  • 
    Contribute to whole-setting development and policy
    
  
  
  
  

Personal Qualities You’re Prioritising

This is actually quite distinctive in your pack:

• 
  Warm, approachable and responsive
  


• 
  Collaborative across teams and settings
  


• 
  Reflective and proactive
  


• 
  Resilient and adaptable
  


• 
  High expectations of professionalism and practice
  


• 
  Deep commitment to improving outcomes for children with SEND and families
  

If you want to sharpen this further (my recommendation)

Given your federation model and SEND ambition, you could tighten this into a clearer “headline expectation”:

We are looking for a SENCo who can move beyond coordination into system leadership — someone who can build adult capability, drive early intervention, and ensure consistently high-quality inclusive practice across multiple settings.

If you want, I can turn this into:

• a one-page person specification (Ofsted-ready)
• or interview questions aligned to each competency
• or a scoring grid for shortlisting

remove bold - this is for dfe teaching vancancy wesite

Here is the same content with all bold removed and formatted cleanly for the DfE Teaching Vacancies website:

Experience and knowledge (essential)

You are looking for someone who:

• Has experience working with children aged 2–5, particularly those with a range of SEND needs
• Understands early identification and intervention
• Has working knowledge of statutory SEND processes, including Early Support Plans and EHCPs
• Has experience making timely referrals to external services
• Demonstrates strong understanding of child development, the EYFS framework, and inclusive practice
• Has experience working with parents/carers and multi-professional teams
• Knows effective strategies for inclusion and quality first teaching

Skills and abilities (essential)

You are looking for someone who can:

• Lead and coordinate SEND provision across more than one setting
• Implement and manage the graduated approach (universal, targeted, specialist)
• Assess, monitor, and track progress of children with SEND
• Support and coach staff with practical strategies and adaptations
• Communicate effectively with staff, parents, and external professionals
• Demonstrate strong organisation, time management, and flexibility

Desirable experience and skills

Stronger candidates may also:

• Hold the National SENCo Award
• Have training in early intervention, speech and language, or inclusion strategies
• Have experience identifying complex SEND early
• Have experience leading CPD or coaching staff
• Be able to analyse data to inform provision
• Be able to contribute to whole-setting development and policy

Personal qualities

• Warm, approachable, and responsive
• Collaborative and able to work across teams and settings
• Reflective, proactive, and committed to continuous improvement
• Resilient and adaptable
• High expectations of practice and professionalism
• Passionate about improving outcomes for children with SEND and their families

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Source: UK Teaching Vacancies Service (teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.