Early Years SEND Inclusion & Portage Practitioner

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA

Salary: 28605 - 31029 per annum (pro-rata for part-time) (Pay award pending)

Working Hours:37 hours a week over 42 weeks

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 17th May 2026

Interview Date(s): 27th May 2026

We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Early Years Inclusion and Childcare service as Early Years SEND and Portage practitioner.

About the Role

The post of Early Years SEND and Portage practitioner will allow you the opportunity to join a highly skilled enthusiastic team. We work with children from birth to school entry who have identified additional needs. You will work with children both in their homes and in early years provision.

Alongside this you will have the opportunity to support training delivered to Early Years Providers and to parents too. You will also organise and run sensory play sessions and Portage groups for caseload families.

You will be trained as a Portage Practitioner and will work with the youngest children with additional needs. You will have the opportunity to develop your own skills and knowledge through training and working alongside experienced colleagues.

If you are passionate about supporting our youngest children with additional needs this is the perfect job for you

Key responsibilities

• Model effective strategies for parents and carers to support very young children within the home environment and provide advice and guidance to parents and professionals in meeting the special educational needs of Early Years children.
• Model inclusive and developmentally appropriate strategies for Early Years providers to support very young children with SEND within their settings.
• Maintain accurate and uptodate records in line with requirements set by the Senior SEND Advisors.
• Prepare or support Early Years settings to prepare requests for Education Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNA).
• Support positive transitions into Early Years provision promoting the education and development of children under three with special educational needs.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post you must:

• Hold a Level 3 qualification in Childcare (or equivalent) with GCSEs at Grade C or above (or equivalent) in both Mathematics and English.
• Demonstrable substantial experience of working with children under five and their families where children have SEND including experience of collaborative partnership working with external agencies to enhance outcomes for children with SEND.
• Strong knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice and the Early Years Foundation Stage with the ability to implement effective strategies to support children with additional needs
• Welldeveloped personal organisational skills with the flexibility and willingness to travel to appointments and a range of venues as required.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal alongside strong listening skills with the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with parents and professionals.

• Ability to support the inclusion of children on their caseload within Early Years settings by modelling good practice sharing relevant information and offering guidance and advice to staff.

In addition we also expect you to shareour commitment to our valuesandto delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working

We are open to discussions about flexible working which may include part time working job sharing term-time working flexible start and finish times and hybrid working depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussionplease contact:

Ruth Melluish- Team Manager (Early Years SEND Inclusion Team)

Email:

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council were looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are wherever youre from and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation not just whats on your CV. Thats why weve designed a recruitment process thats fair accessible and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire wed love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the About You section above. Without this information we wont be able to assess your suitability for the role and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement see the How to Applysection on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore if you are interested please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning0(select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: applying for this post you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.