Advisor - Physical and Medical Needs

In this role, you will be working to ensure that children and young people with physical and medical needs are properly supported within their school or educational setting. You’ll be addressing any barriers they may face and looking at how to overcome these. Use of a person-centred approach is a must.

What’s in it for you:

This is an exciting opportunity to work with schools and educational settings, health and other professionals, and families to ensure that children and young people with physical and medical needs are fully included in education and get the right support.

If you are passionate about accessibility and inclusion and want to make sure that children and young people with physical and medical needs can enjoy the same opportunities as their peers and achieve their potential, this role could be for you.

Additionally, as our source of expertise on the moving and handling of children and young people with physical disabilities in educational settings, you will have the opportunity to shape children handling training and develop associated resources.

You’ll work alongside the Senior Advisor. Together, we will promote high aspirations for children and young people with physical and medical needs.

Opportunities for development will be provided.

What you can expect to be doing:

You will manage a caseload of children and young people with physical and medical needs. This will involve responding to issues as they arise by providing accurate and timely advice. This may be over the phone, via email or in-person. Where necessary, you will attend Team Around the Child (TAC) meetings, educational site visits and school transfer planning meetings to act as a source of expertise and provide guidance to others.

You will also lead on matters relating to the moving and handling of children and young people with physical disabilities in educational settings. This will include:

• delivering training to schools and settings
• providing specialist advice to schools and settings
• working in liaison with other professionals, such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists

Alongside the Senior Advisor, you will identify children and young people with physical disabilities who are due to start school for the first time, or those who are due to transfer schools, who may require accessibility adaptations. You will work with the relevant schools and our colleagues in Assets and Property, to ensure that needs are understood, and can be planned for.

About you:

You will be able to develop and maintain an in-depth knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance on managing physical and medical needs in an educational setting. You will be able to apply this knowledge to individual circumstances.

• understand relevant legislation and guidance
• write risk assessments
• develop moving and handling care plans

If you are passionate about making a difference and possess the qualities we are looking for, we would love to hear from you.

This role is 30 hours per week, term-time only. Whilst there is some flexibility with how the hours are worked across the week, there is a need to be available to schools and other educational settings during their opening times. 

We base the pro-rata salary on:

• the number of hours
• the number of weeks worked
• paid annual leave entitlement for an employee under 5 years’ service

In the first year of service this salary may need to be adjusted to ensure you are paid accurately to reflect your holiday entitlement. A similar adjustment may be made at the point your employment ends to ensure that you are paid accurately for the number of days worked in any academic year.

This role will be based in Dorchester but there are opportunities for working from home. You will need to provide training at County Hall in Dorchester on at least a termly basis. You will also need to visit schools and settings around Dorset as part of the role.

If you would like an informal chat about the role to understand more, please get in touch with Kelly Lambert on 01305 224063 or [email protected].

At Dorset Council, we are working together to create a fairer, more prosperous, and more sustainable Dorset for everyone, now and in the future.

We: 

• provide essential services that support over 380,000 residents 
• work in partnership to make a real difference 
• value every role and the impact it has on our communities 
• support our employees to grow, develop, and thrive 

You will: 

• be part of a team that works together for a better Dorset 
• have access to a range of benefits and support 
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression 

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation where different skills, perspectives, and backgrounds strengthen both our council and the communities we serve. 

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible. If you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application. 

This role is UK-based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process. We use generic job descriptions and person specifications, so the job title in any attachments may differ from the advert. If needed, we will provide additional details in a context statement. 

If you’re passionate about making a difference, we’d love you to join us. 

Find out more about how to apply.