Sendco (Head of Learning Support Faculty)

Job title:             SENDCO (Head of Learning Support Faculty)

Grade:                MPS / UPS plus TLR £12,124

Hours:                 Full time

Responsible to:   SLT line manager  

Start date:        January 2025

Contract: Permanent

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, organised and imaginative SENDCO to lead a friendly and committed Learning Support Faculty. More than ever before, young people need support with their learning and development and we hope that you will share our vision for all members of our community to be able to ‘achieve their potential and enjoy the journey’. This is a highly rewarding role where you will have the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of our pupils, in collaboration with our dedicated teams of staff. For those applicants who have not completed their SENDCO qualification we will support you to achieve this. A recruitment and retention allowance may be available to a suitably qualified applicant.

The Learning Support Faculty provides individual and small group support to targeted pupils, both in and out of the classroom. We are a truly inclusive school and our pupils have a diverse range of SEND. You will work as a champion and advocate for those pupils with SEND and will support our staff to meet their needs. Experience of working with pupils with SEND will be vital for this role, as will the ability to think strategically, lead others and share expertise.

Visitors tell us that our school is a friendly, lively and stimulating community where we emphasise the importance of each individual’s contribution and take pleasure in sharing and celebrating achievement.  They commend the good behaviour of the pupils and their thirst for learning. Bishop’s is a diverse community that offers mutual support and encouragement and expects everyone within it to respect others’ heritage, cultures, religion and beliefs.  We hope that the values, self-discipline and sense of personal worth that pupils gain here will be a support throughout their lives as British and Global Citizens. We welcome applications from candidates from racially minoritised backgrounds and from other groups that are underrepresented in the UK education system. We are a single sex school but we encourage any gender to apply for staff posts.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the school at a time of growth and development and we are looking for a candidate who will help to extend what we do. The Learning Support Faculty makes a huge contribution to the life of the school and we are looking for a candidate who will help to extend this work. 

Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School is heavily oversubscribed and has around 950 pupils on roll including the Sixth Form.  We are fully committed to our values of teamwork, respect, honesty, trust, kindness and ambition.  The school completed its most recent Ofsted inspection in December 2022 and was judged to continue to be Outstanding. However, we are not driven by Ofsted and our priorities lie in supporting our pupils to develop their knowledge, skills and character through the ‘Bishop’s 360’ model.  The school has benefited from a total rebuild on the same site and enjoys excellent state of the art facilities.  BHGS holds International School Status, the Music Mark and is a Fairtrade School.  Hatfield is within easy reach of London and other areas and the London Fringe Allowance is payable.

The school's Admissions’ Code gives priority places to children of staff and we give high priority to staff development. Staff are able to apply for our Professional Development Award which provides bursary payments to help finance CPD that goes beyond the school’s usual training programme.

We take safeguarding of our students extremely seriously and an enhanced disclosure will be sought through the Disclosure and Barring Service as part of the school’s pre-employment checks.

If you would like to visit us, prior to making an application, and see for yourself how our pupils learn in a vibrant, supportive environment please contact Sally Fullerton at sfullerton@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk. 

Please see the job description for more detail.

Closing date for applications: Friday 27th September, 9am

Interview and assessment date: To be confirmed (please note that we reserve the right to make an early appointment for applications made prior to the deadline)

An Equal Opportunities’ Employer,

Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School is committed to

the protection and safety of its pupils and expects all

staff to share this commitment.