The role

We are seeking a candidate whose current post may be within a school, a trust, a teaching hub, a local authority, or an organisation providing services to educational settings, with experience of delivering impactful professional development activities within their own setting and beyond.

As a current or more recently experienced SENCO with outstanding classroom practice and success as a senior leader, you will have the necessary knowledge and skills to enable you to support, monitor and challenge mainstream schools and school leaders across all phases. Whilst also prepared to make a significant contribution to the traded income of the team.

The successful candidate will have an excellent knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years and successful experience of supporting teachers and other educational practitioners to improve outcomes for learners with SEND.

You will have high quality written and oral communication skills and work well as part of a team. Strong interpersonal skills combined with a high level of problem-solving and creative thinking skills are essential prerequisites for the role.

As the UK’s largest School Company, we operate as a social enterprise on a not-for-profit basis and we are a leading provider of school improvement and business support services, training, and resources, that enable schools, settings and trusts to deliver a great education.

This is a wonderful opportunity to join an expanding team and to have a significant impact on the quality of education for pupils with SEND across a wide range of settings.

Would you like to know more information about this opportunity? If you would you like to know more information about this opportunity, further information can
be found in the job outline. You can also contact Louise Barrell, Lead SEND Adviser, who would be happy to speak to you: louise.barrell@hfleducation.org

Benefits
  • 28 days annual leave (rising to 31 following five years’ service)  plus bank holidays
  • A range of additional leave (compassionate, emergency, pregnancy related sickness, and disability leave for appointments)
  • Pension scheme (10% employer contribution)
  • Life assurance
  • Cycle to Work scheme
  • Annual company bonus opportunity
  • Learning and development opportunities including academic sponsorship
  • Occupational sick/maternity/adoption pay
  • Access to HFL Extras, our online platform with a wide range of savings, discounts and cashback opportunities
  • Paid leave entitlement to undertake voluntary work; we especially encourage school governors
  • Hybrid flexible working with support on commuting expenses
  • Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which provides advice and support, including a counselling service
  • Access to Mental Health First Aiders
  • Modern office facilities
How to apply

To apply, please download and complete the HFL application form along with the supporting statement (maximum 2 sides of A4), explaining how you meet the requirements of the job outline and person specification.

Please also complete and submit the HFL Equal opportunities monitoring form.

As part of our move towards eradicating unconscious bias within the recruitment process, we ask that you follow the guidance stated in the application forms.

We would also love to hear why you are interested in becoming part of the HFL team. Please email your completed application to hfl.recruitment@hfleducation.org or apply via our website:

Apply for this position

At a glance

  • Contract: Permanent

  • Hours: 37 hours per week, 52 weeks a year (part-time applications will be considered)

  • Salary: £53,000 - £55,000 per annum, FTE

  • Location: Our ‘working from anywhere’ approach provides colleagues the opportunity to work flexibly in line with their role requirements. This consists of working on-site across various schools and settings in Hertfordshire and neighbouring counties, remote working and, if desired, up to two days per week in our Head Office in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

  • Closing date: Monday 23rd February 2026

  • Interview date: Tuesday 17th March 2026

Job outline

Special Educational Needs (SEND) Adviser - job outline
PDF
287.81 KB

Contact us

hfl.recruitment@hfleducation.org

We are a committed Disability Confident employer and a signatory of the BITC Race at Work Charter reflecting our continuing commitment to be unbiased across our recruitment and workplace practices.

We actively encourage suitably qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply and to join us. We use an anonymous application process to ensure we always select candidates based on their skills and competencies. When two or more candidates have equal merit, the candidate with protected characteristics will have an advantage over others. This tie-breaker approach is described as positive action in the Equality Act 2010 and we believe strongly in the power of overcoming disadvantage.

If you are invited to interview, please be prepared to discuss the subject of unconscious bias with us. These conversations are extremely useful in giving us an idea of what working together will be like.

HFL is an equal opportunities employer, committed to building and celebrating an environment that is inclusive and equitable, in which everyone can flourish, regardless of race, age, sexuality, gender, disability, or status.