Job info |
Job info details |
Job title |
Portage Home Visitor |
Strategic team/Directorate |
Special Educational Needs and Disability |
Service |
Children’s Services |
Business unit |
Children’s Services |
Responsible to (day to day issues) |
Portage Team Lead |
Accountable to (line manager) |
Portage Team Lead |
Salary grade |
18 - 23 |
JE ref |
E130 |
1. Key purpose of job
- To provide a home-teaching service for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
- To provide high quality support and services to children with complex needs and their families through a key working and care-coordination role.
- To deliver the Portage Model of teaching incorporating the Portage principles in a variety of environments.
- Be responsible for robust and effective activities which ensure quality of service and its impact on children and families.
- To support the graduated response and when needed support the request of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
- To Offer information, advice, and guidance around local/national support services to families.
- To plan and write individual learning and development plans in partnership with parents and carers identifying shared targets.
- To make referrals to other agencies, such as the NHS and the Disabilities Team where necessary.
- To promote inclusive practices.
2. Anticipated outcomes of post
- Contributing to successful educational outcomes for all children and young people in Torbay.
- To improve emotional support, practical support and service provision to families with a child(ren) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
- To empower parents and carers to use support strategies to enable their child’s ongoing development.
- To positively impact on the parents’ ability to communicate with their child successfully.
- To increase parents/carers understanding and ability to access the special educational needs support available for their child.
3. List key duties and accountabilities of the post
- Responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children at all times.
- To deliver the Portage Model of teaching incorporating the Portage Principles in a variety of environments e.g. individual home visits, parent training sessions, parent and child group sessions.
- To manage an individual caseload of children aged 0-4 with complex additional needs.
- Responsible for arranging weekly or fortnightly visits to families delivering family focus, structured teaching and child led play (Portage Model) whilst following the Portage Principles.
- To attend Social Care and Early Help meetings such as Team Around the Family (TAF) and Child Protection producing written reports as required.
- Responsible for maintaining accurate case notes and records.
- To plan and deliver with colleagues, weekly groups such as the Small Steps group providing advice and support to parents/carers.
- To design and deliver parent workshops as part of the Torbay Portage Pathway offer.
- Co-administer the Torbay Portage social media pages of Torbay Council.
- To work in partnership with parents to record a child’s current skills using a variety of assessments as appropriate to the child’s individual needs.
- To liaise with parents, Early Years settings and health professionals to record, plan and review SMART learning priorities as appropriate to the child’s individual needs.
- To liaise with Early Years settings and schools at times of transitions, sharing information and strategies to help support the child.
- To provide relevant and timely written evidence to support an Education, Health and Care Plan request.
- To provide an extensive working knowledge of local service provision and to act as first point of contact for families signposting as appropriate.
- To provide care co-ordination for families; facilitating first contacts to appropriate agencies and multi-agency meetings to plan services around the child and family.
- To maintain a child and family centred planning approach and act as an advocate for the family where necessary, representing their views and priorities.
- To participate in professionally relevant activities as directed by line manager, including supervision, monthly team meetings and personal professional development.
- To assist in the renewal and maintenance of all toys and equipment.
- To attend in house and external training as required.
4. Budgetary/Financial Responsibilities of the post
5. Supervision/Line Management Responsibilities of the post
6. Working environment and conditions of the post
- Working from Health and safety assessed workplace/office.
- Work independently within the Community undertaking home/nursery visits. Often working alone outside of the office, staff must adhere to lone working arrangements.
- The portage home visitor will risk assess each working environment. Should the environment not be conducive to portage home visiting, an alternative venue will be offered.
- Transportation of portage resources and toys to family homes and storage.
7. Physical demands of the post
- The transportation of Portage resources and toys to family homes and storage.
- The ability to work in potentially difficult physical situations e.g on the floor in homes, as well as carrying bags with heavy or awkward resources.
- The Portage home visitor may occasionally have to move and handle young children following manual handling procedures throughout.
8. Specific resources used by the post
- Computer and other IT equipment.
- Mobile phone.
- Toys and resources.
- Training resources.
9. Key contacts and relationships
- External
- Early Years Settings and Schools (SENCo’s, Class Teachers, TAs)
- Paediatricians
- Speech & Language Therapists
- Occupational Therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Social Workers
- Health Visitors
- Child Development Centre staff
- Action for Children staff
- Internal
- Portage team members
- Line manager
- Advisory teacher (SEN)
- Educational Psychologists
- SEN section
- SEND Family Voice Torbay
- Social Workers
- Children with Disabilities Team
10. Other duties
- To undertake additional duties as required, commensurate with the level of the job.
Other Information
- All staff must commit to Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discriminatory Practice.
- The Council operates a Smoke-Free Policy and the post-holder is prohibited from smoking in any of the Council's buildings (including Council owned and Council leased buildings, but excluding designated areas in residential schemes), enclosed spaces within the curtilage of buildings, and Council vehicles. The Council does not permit smoking breaks within work time, however, in services where the flexi-scheme is in operation, employees may take reasonable break times outside of core hours, in accordance with flexi-time arrangements. Employees should follow the flexi-scheme procedure for agreeing time away from their duties in the normal manner with their immediate colleagues and line manager, with break start and finish times being recorded, as with any other break-time arrangement.
- The post-holder is expected to familiarise themselves with and adhere to all relevant Council Policies and Procedures.
- The post-holder must comply with the Council’s Health and Safety requirements as outlined in the H&S policy appropriate to the role.
- As this post meets the requirements of the Immigration Act 2017 (part 7) the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
- This post is office based at Electric House but the post holder may be required to move their base to any other location within the Council at a future date.The post-holder must be committed to the Council’s Core Values for employees – “Torbay Council employees are committed to being forward thinking, people orientated and adaptable - always with integrity”. Evidence will be sought during the probation and appraisal processes.
- If you are required to use your own vehicle on Council business or drive a council vehicle you will be asked to provide information on any driving endorsements by accessing gov.uk/view-driving-licence and providing a code to your Line Manager in order to share your driving licence information with the Council.
- As this post meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a criminal record check (Disclosure) from the Disclosure & Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of ALL cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions, whether “spent” or “unspent”. Criminal convictions will only be taken into account when they are relevant to the post.Torbay Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo the checks appropriate to the post applied for.
- The post holder is expected to work in a way that ensures vulnerable children and adults are safeguarded and report any safeguarding concerns in accordance with established policies and procedures.
Person Specification
Note for Candidate
All Candidates
The supporting statement on your application form will be used to assess ability to meet the essential requirements of the role, so you should explain how you meet each of the numbered essential requirements within your supporting statement.
In a competitive situation, the desirable criteria may be taken into consideration, so you are encouraged to show how you also meet each of the desirable criteria.
Candidates who consider that they have a disability
Reasonable adjustments will be made to the job, job requirements or recruitment process for candidates with a disability.
If you consider yourself to have a disability you should indicate this on your application form, providing any information you would like us to take into account with regard to your disability in order to offer a fair selection interview.
Where ever possible and reasonable we will make adjustments and offer alternatives to help you through the application and selection process.
If you have indicated that you have a disability on your application form you will be guaranteed an interview if you clearly demonstrate in your supporting evidence how you broadly meet the essential requirements of the role.
Job info |
Job info details |
Job Title |
Portage Home Visitor |
Strategic team/Directorate |
Special Educational Needs and Disability |
Service |
Children’s Services |
Business unit |
Children’s Services |
Skills and effectiveness
Essential skills and effectiveness
- Effective communication skills.
- A high level of interpersonal skills.
- Ability to create good working relationships with children, parents/carers, colleagues and other professionals.
- Ability to advocate on behalf of children and families across all agencies.
- Ability to prepare enjoyable, practical and individual programmes of activities for children under 5yrs with Special Educational Needs and/or a disability to meet agreed learning priorities.
- Ability to cope with a wide range of tasks within a short timescale and work to deadlines.
- Ability to work independently and as a team member.
- Effective organisational skills.
- Ability to write clear concise visit notes, Individual learning and development plans and reports.
- Ability to demonstrate the extensive communication skills necessary to be able to present complex information clearly, in range of formats to varied audiences.
- Effective ICT skills.
- Emotional strength, resilience and positivity to be able to support families who may be experiencing a range of anxieties, difficulties and challenges.
- Willingness to undertake training in areas of skill and knowledge that require enhancing or updating.
- As this post meets the requirements of the Immigration Act 2016 (part 7), the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
Desirable skills and effectiveness
- Experience of working in a multi-agency environment.
Knowledge
Essential knowledge
- Knowledge of Special Educational Needs experienced by young children.
- Understanding of child development and the needs of children and young people, including physical, emotional, cultural and social needs.
- A comprehensive understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and EYFS statutory requirements.
- Experience of working with a range of IT software including Microsoft office applications.
- Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
Desirable knowledge
- Knowledge of a range of strategies for working with children with Special Educational needs and Disabilities.
- Knowledge of person centred planning methodology.
- Knowledge of current pedagogy and early interventions used for children and families.
Experience and achievements
Essential experience and achievements
- Broad experience of working with young children with Special Educational Needs.
- Experience of working in partnership with families, carers and multiagency professionals.
- Experience of working within a team.
- Experience of working with other professionals and agencies.
Desirable experience and achievements
- Experience of home based working with families and children.
- Experience of delivering the Portage Model.
- Experience of pre-school/school systems.
Qualifications/professional memberships
Essential qualifications/professional memberships
- Relevant qualification in Early Years effective to a standard equivalent to NVQ3.
Desirable qualifications/professional memberships
- Portage three-day Workshop for Early Years.
Other requirements
Other requirements of the job role
- Demonstrates a commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.
- Ability to travel efficiently around the Bay in order to carry out duties.
- Ability to carry out the physical requirements of the role (i.e manual handling).
- Ability to accommodate office/agile working.