Brighton and Hove Inclusion Support Service
2 x Specialist Practitioners
Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) Team:
SO1/2 (£36,363-£39,152 ) 37 hours per week, Term-Time Only
Closing date: Midnight Thursday 3 September 2026
Interview date; Tuesday 8 September 2026
Have you got experience of understanding the needs of children and young people, aged 4-18, that display challenging behaviours?
- Are you creative, flexible, highly organised and enjoy being part of a hugely supportive team?
- Have you excellent listening and inter-personal skills that allow you to ascertain a situation; support mainstream colleagues; parents and school leaders appropriately?
An exciting opportunity is available for 2 full-time specialist practitioners to join the BHISS SEMH team. These positions are being recruited to in order to fulfil requirements based around the SEND reforms.
BHISS-SEMH offers assessment, support, advice, trainings as well as direct in-school interventions for children, from KS1-5, whose behaviours are likely to mean they are at risk of suspension. Our key aims are to reduce fixed term suspensions; maintain children’s mainstream school and college placements as well as develop colleagues’ capacity to manage challenge.
We also offer a variety of bespoke trainings and forums for staff, both 1-1 and small groups, to discuss challenge as well as devise clear programmes of support for referred children. The ability to ably represent the team at multi-disciplinary meetings across the city is vital.
BHISS is located at the Portslade Hub. The role is challenging and will see you working peripatetically across the city.
While the roles are well established the deployment of them may vary slightly in accordance to frameworks that are currently being designed.
A high level of organisational ability as well as being able to sympathetically understand individual challenges and adapt accordingly is crucial for the role. Evidence of being able to work within a team is highly valued by us. Understanding of trauma-informed ways of working as well as being able to write clear detailed reports are essential.
We can offer a hugely supportive team ethic, training, regular supervision, and the chance to make a real impact whilst working across all the city’s schools.
The ability to communicate sensitively and clearly with a wide range of individuals, through dynamic situations, and understand that challenging behaviours engender strong feelings amongst staff, parents, and the school community.
This role would really suit someone that thrives on a challenge but in the knowledge that you have the support of the team and the ability to further develop a whole range of skills in the area of SEMH.
For further information please contact:
Mark Holdaway, Senior Specialist Teacher- SEMH
Tel: 07713 711177
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
