About the Role

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Best Start Inclusion Practice Manager to lead and develop our new Best Start Inclusion offer, helping to ensure that children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) receive the right support at the earliest opportunity. As a strategic and operational lead, you will manage a team of Best Start Inclusion Practitioners, driving high-quality, evidence-informed practice across Family Hubs, early years settings, family homes and community outreach services. This is an exciting opportunity to shape an innovative service that supports families and promotes the early identification of SEND, strengthens inclusion across the early years sector, and improves outcomes for children and families across Enfield.

About Enfield Council

At Enfield Council, our vision is simple: Be Bold, Make a Difference, Show You Care. We are committed to improving the lives of children, young people and families through high-quality, accessible services. Our Children’s Services, including Family Hubs, sit at the heart of this commitment, bringing together health, education, social care and early help services to provide coordinated support from pregnancy through to adulthood for young people with SEND. As part of our ambitious Best Start in Life programme, you will play a key role in building inclusive partnerships and communities, ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive, learn and achieve their full potential.

About the Ideal Candidate

You will be a confident and inspiring leader with significant experience in SEND, early years inclusion, early help or a related service. You will have a strong understanding of child development from birth to five years, the SEND Code of Practice, safeguarding, early identification processes and inclusive practice. Experience of leading teams, supervising practitioners, delivering interventions, supporting families and working collaboratively across health, education and social care is essential.

We are looking for someone who can influence practice, build strong partnerships and drive service improvement through the effective use of data, evidence and quality assurance. You will be an excellent communicator with a solution-focused approach, strong organisational skills and a commitment to supporting children and families from all backgrounds. A degree or equivalent relevant experience, together with evidence of continuous professional development in SEND, is required.

Our Offer to You

This is an opportunity to lead a newly developing service and make a lasting impact on the lives of children and families across Enfield. You will work alongside dedicated professionals within Family Hubs, SEND, health and education services, helping to shape innovative approaches to inclusion and early intervention. We offer a collaborative and supportive working environment, opportunities for professional development and leadership growth, flexible working arrangements where service needs allow, and the chance to contribute to ambitious borough-wide transformation programmes that are improving outcomes for children and young people.

Contact Details -

If you would like to know more about the role, please contact Julia Hide on 020 8321 0460 for an informal discussion or to arrange a visit to the team.

If you have any difficulties accessing this information, please contact Maria Evangelou at maria.evangelou@enfield.gov.uk.

Enfield’s Social Care Centre of Excellence confirms our commitment to creating and maintaining an environment for new and existing staff to be the best and deliver high quality social work to our most vulnerable children and young people. It brings our recruitment, professional development and support into the one portal for social care staff to see what we have to offer and how we are supporting them to continue to learn and develop on a professional basis. For more information please visit https://new.enfield.gov.uk/centreofexcellence/about-us/

“This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment”.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications have been received. Therefore, we advise that you complete fully and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We do not see your name or title when shortlisting your application. This is one of many initiatives to build a more talented and diverse workforce. However, if you put your name on your CV or Statement it will be visible to us. For this reason, we ask that you do not include your name on these documents. Please note it is your responses to the Essential/Desirable criteria, as detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification which is available on the job advert, that will determine if you are shortlisted for an interview, therefore we encourage you to always address the essential and desirable criteria in your application/CV.

Why it's great to work for Enfield Council:

An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
Up to 32 days annual leave depending on grade and length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year and an extra day off at Christmas.
A blend of remote and office based working for most roles.
Interest free season ticket loan repayable over three or ten months.
Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods.
Employee Assistance Programme to provide advice and counselling services. This is a free and confidential service available to staff and members of their family.
Health and leisure discounts and tax-free bikes for work.
1 month's paid sabbatical for registered Social Workers working in Children's Social Care.

We are passionate about our people and how we deliver services to our community in Enfield. That’s why we encourage a culture that puts our customers at the heart of everything we do - by empowering our people to work together to find solutions, be open, honest and respectful, take responsibility and listen and learn. If you value these behaviours too, we’d love to hear from you - and of course we are always happy to talk flexible working, click here to find out more.

If you have previously applied for this role within the past 6 months, unfortunately, a second application will not be considered.

Certain posts in the Council are ‘politically restricted’ which means that staff employed in these posts may not undertake political activities either in or outside the workplace and therefore if candidates are affiliated with any political party, we may not be able to proceed with their application.