Newcastle City Council

Children's Services

School Improvement Service

Early Years' Foundation Stage and Primary Strategy Consultants (3 posts)

Soulbury 4 – 7 (plus the possibility of up to 3 SPA points)

Range £34,413 - £37,656 with up to £41,097 with SPA points)

Required for January 2009 or sooner if possible.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our newly formed team of early year's / primary consultants to help improve outcomes for children through early intervention and prevention.

We are seeking highly effective teachers or practitioners from allied disciplines with expertise in the Early Year's Foundation Stage and or Key Stage 1 from a range of backgrounds to lead improvements for children aged 0 - 5 years. 

There are 3 posts available and for all posts

You should:

·          have recent experience of teaching in a school or early years setting or experience of working with schools and children in the 0 - 5 age range.

·          be committed to helping provide the best possible education for children through challenge and support for improvement to children's learning across the Early Years Foundation Stage and into Key Stage 1.

·          Expertise in providing advice, support and guidance to schools and settings.

Post 1 EYFS Consultant - Locality Co-ordinator (permanent)

You will be responsible for the quality and improvement of all Early Years settings through central challenge, support, guidance and training.

You should have:

·          Experience of successful staff management

·          Able to use data to inform setting improvement

·          have experience of working with a range of agencies/partners to promote integrated working

Post 2 EYFS Consultant – Every Child a Talker (ECAT) (Jan 09 – Aug 10 – possible secondment)

You will improve the skills and expertise of the early years' workforce in early language.  The challenge is to increase:

-    practitioners' knowledge and understanding of early language development and support best practice, leading to improvements in children's language acquisition. 

-    the involvement of parents in their children's learning and will help to develop stronger home learning environments.

You should have:

·          Knowledge of language development.

·          Experience of successful adult training

We are particularly keen to appoint this as a job share looking for expertise from speech language professionals and from teachers

Post 3 EYFS / Primary Consultant – Communication, Language and Literacy (Jan 09 – Aug 10 – possible secondment)

You will work mainly in the Early Years Foundation Stage to improve the learning and teaching of Communication, Language and Literacy and to enhance its leadership in identified schools. There will also be an element of working in Key Stage 1 to further develop Communication, Language and Literacy, to support both transition from the Foundation Stage and the raising of standards in early reading and writing.

You should have:

·          Knowledge of the CLLD curriculum

·          A commitment to the national Linking Sounds and Letters programme

If you are interested in joining our supportive team and a Local Authority that has a very good relationship with its schools then please contact Jan Corlett (School Improvement Adviser) on 0191 2115391.

For further details ….

Closing Date:   Friday 3 October 2008 at 12 noon

Shortlisting:       Monday 6 October 2008

Interviews:         Friday 24 October 2008