Team Manager - Special School Nursing Service
Band 7 Full Time | Permanent Bedfordshire and Luton Children's Services

Lead a Service that Changes Children's Lives
At East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust, we believe every child deserves the very best start in life and the opportunity to thrive, regardless of the challenges they face. Our Special School Nursing Service plays a vital role in ensuring children and young people with complex health needs can access education safely, achieve their potential, and live healthier, more fulfilling lives

We are seeking an inspiring and experienced nurse leader to become our next Team Manager for the Special School Nursing Service.

Are you an experienced and compassionate children's nurse ready to lead a dedicated team supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)?

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a highly skilled and compassionate team working across specialist educational settings in Bedfordshire. Working closely with the team Manger in Luton and the Clinical Lead, you will have the opportunity to shape future service development, support innovation, and influence how health services respond to the growing complexity of need within special schools. The Trust's strategic priorities include improving support for children and young people with complex needs and reviewing future models of care within special

Main duties of the job
As Team Manager, you will provide visible and supportive leadership to a team of specialist nurses and nursery nurses delivering care across a range of special educational settings.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading, managing and developing a highly motivated multidisciplinary team.
• Driving service improvement, innovation and quality initiatives.
• Supporting the delivery of safe, effective and evidence-based care.
• Building strong partnerships with schools, families and external agencies.
• Ensuring high standards of safeguarding, clinical governance and professional practice.
• Contributing to strategic planning and service development across children's services.
• Supporting staff wellbeing, learning and professional growth.

About us
Rated 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.

There's one reason why our services are outstanding - and that's our amazing staff who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.

If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.

Please be aware that East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust will never ask applicants to pay fees at any stage of the recruitment process, including job applications, sponsorship arrangements, or employment offers. All recruitment communications and job applications should only be made through our official careers website and published contact details.

If you receive a suspicious job offer or recruitment-related communication, do not make any payments, share personal information, or provide identity documents. We encourage you to report the matter to your local police or relevant law enforcement agency. Any concerns relating to potential recruitment fraud should also be reported to our Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS) as soon as possible.

Details
Date posted: 08 September 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year
Payment for on call
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 448-BCHS-8267924
Job locations: Woburn Court, Railton Road, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 7PN, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Main Duties & Responsibilities
Working closely with Childrens Community and Specialist Service leads, the postholder support strategic leadership and operational management of the Special NeedsNursing Team across Bedfordshire, ensuring high-quality, safe, and effective servicesfor children and young people with complex health needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide leadership, management, and professional oversight of the Special NeedsNursing Team.
• Lead day-to-day service delivery, ensuring activity, quality, performance, and financialtargets are achieved.
• Ensure assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of nursing care withinTrust guidelines.
• Act as the lead for SEND within Special Schools and contribute to delivery of the HealthyChild Programme.
• Support service development and transformation, working collaboratively with health,education, social care, and wider system partners.
• Promote safeguarding, child protection, clinical governance, infection prevention, andinformation governance standards.
• Manage team budgets, delegated financial responsibilities, workforce planning,recruitment, retention, sickness absence, and performance management.
• Ensure staff receive appropriate supervision, appraisal, training, mentorship, andprofessional development opportunities.
• Lead quality improvement initiatives, audits, policy implementation, and serviceimprovement projects.
• Act as a senior point of contact for complaints, complex case management, and multiagency working.
• Maintain professional NMC registration and ensure compliance with Trust policies,statutory requirements, and emergency preparedness arrangements.
• The post holder is required to participate in relevant emergency preparedness process fortheir team.

Key Working Relationships

• Special Needs Nursing Team
• Children's Continuing Healthcare
• Children's Community Nursing Team
• General Practitioners
• Social Care
• Education Services
• Adult Services and Transition Teams

Person Specification
Personal Development Skills
Essential

• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
• Resilience and adaptability
• Professional accountability and integrity
• Critical thinking and clinical decision-making
• Time management and organisational skills
• Reflective practice and continuous learning
• Problem-solving and conflict resolution
• Strategic thinking and service development

Communication
Essential

• Effective communicator at all levels, recognising and reflecting on barriers to communication
• Excellent interpersonal relationship skills and appropriate diplomacy skills.

Skills, Abilities and Knowledge
Essential

• Ability to make judgements in delivering complex facts or situations, which require analysis, interpretation, and comparison of a range of options
• Ability to prioritise effectively to meet deadlines or work on own initiative
• Basic keyboard skills and ability to use Microsoft packages and Excel appropriate to the service
• Be competent in general nursing skills, i.e. Enteral feeding - passing a naso-gastric tube, wound dressing to support clinical care delivery in a special school setting
• Experience of People Management

Desirable

• Experience of undertaking clinical audit

Experience
Essential

• Experience of understanding the needs of a diverse population, recognising cultural differences and barriers
• Relevant experience in primary/community care, including working with children with severe complex medical needs and learning disabilities
• Evidence of line management responsibilities
• Extensive experience of care assessment, planning and implementation
• Knowledge of chronic disease management
• Experience of identifying training needs, planning, and delivering training
• Experience of working as part of a multi-professional working team
• Have a sound knowledge of the SEND agenda

Desirable

• Experience using SystmOne or similar patient record system
• Evidence of continuing professional development (for example, SCPHN / SPQ (CCN), Non-Medical Prescribing

Qualifications & Training
Essential

• Registered Children's Nurse
• Registered Learning Disabilities Nurse

Desirable

• Master's degree in nursing practice
• Leadership Qualification training
• Clinical Supervision training
• Evidence of recent post graduate study

People Development Skills
Essential

• Leadership and role modelling
• Coaching and mentoring staff
• Clinical supervision and support
• Performance management and appraisal
• Recruitment, retention, and workforce development
• Delegation and empowerment of team members
• Training needs analysis and workforce planning
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• Facilitating learning and education opportunities
• Managing difficult conversations and conflict
• Promoting staff wellbeing and psychological safety

Personal Attributes / Behaviours
Essential

• Ability to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults
• Demonstrates an understanding of safeguarding issues
• Appreciates the significance of safeguarding and interprets this accurately for all individual children and young people/vulnerable adults whatever their life circumstances.
• Has a good understanding of the Safeguarding agenda
• Can demonstrate an ability to contribute towards a safe environment
• Is up to date with legislation and current events
• Can demonstrate how s/he has promoted 'best practice
• Shows a personal commitment to safeguarding children

Other
Essential

• Able to communicate effectively in written and verbal English Language
• Ability to travel Pan Bedfordshire working collaboratively across Luton & Bedford services
• Satisfactory Criminal Records Disclosure
• Flexibility to work over seven days per week (On Call capacity), to support the delivery of a 24hr service across Pan Bedfordshire
• Must hold full and valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

All recruitment communications and job applications should only be made through our official careers website and published contact details. We are an equal opportunities employer.