Children And Family Support Worker Jobs in Home Based
SOCIAL WORKER (CARITAS SCHOOLS’ SERVICE)
5 days per week, term time only (39 working weeks, 13 non-working weeks)
Point 19-26, Qualification Bar at Point 24
£30,529 - £36,072 (pro rata for term time) Actual £26,091 - £30,828
Plus Essential Car Allowance
Fixed Term Contract for 12 months (Maternity Cover)
SCHOOLS BASED ACROSS BURNLEY & SALFORD
We require a Social Worker to provide high quality social work in our schools across the Diocese of Salford according to each school’s formal agreement.
You will work directly with children and young people, their parents, carers and schools in order to further the child’s welfare and provide the interventions necessary to enable them to use their learning opportunities to the full. You must be able to provide a non-judgemental, caring and confidential environment throughout this work to ensure the issues are addressed in an appropriate manner for all those involved.
To apply you will have experience of working with children and families and experience of direct work with children which includes supporting school staff with safeguarding. You must have competent IT skills which includes providing regular reports to the individual schools and Caritas and feedback to school staff as required. You must be able to maintain appropriate resources, databases and case files as well as maintain efficient and comprehensive referral and recording systems.
Registered social worker status with Social Work England (SWE) is essential and the salary includes accrued annual leave.
This role is due to commence in September 2024.
If this sounds like the next step you are looking for and you would like to work for an organisation passionate about transforming lives, we would love to hear from you!
Closing date: Monday, 3 June 2024
Interview: Friday, 14 June 2024
Caritas follows Safer Recruitment practices, and this post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check. It is also a requirement of the post that you must hold a full UK Driving Licence, with the use of a car insured for business purposes as this role involves working in the schools as required.
Caritas Diocese of Salford is an equal opportunities employer
Registered Charity Number: 1125808
Please note we do not accept applications via agencies or CVs
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
An exciting opportunity has arisen in East Sussex for a highly motivated and committed Family Worker to build on a well-established commissioned service.
About the Role:
Kinship is the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We work with all kinship carers – the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and family friends who are caring for children when their parents can’t.
We’re seeking an experienced Family Worker who is passionate about supporting kinship carers to get the right support at the right time. We are looking for someone who has the interpersonal and partnership skills to perform their role sensitively and creatively while also meeting reporting and impact requirements. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with East Sussex County Council and will share their ambition to support families to keep their children safe through support, advice and guidance.
You’ll be delivering our Kinship Connected programme offering support to special guardians and other kinship carers, providing emotional and practical support to carers in their homes and in the community over a six-month intervention cycle. You’ll also connect them with other kinship carers through peer support groups, as well as supporting to unlock community assets.
This is a role where you’ll need to have strong boundaries and personal resilience – which we’ll also support through development and reflective practice.
Key responsibilities include:
- Practical and emotional support to kinship carers virtually or in-person in their home or community.
- Signposting or referring to relevant national and local services.
- Liaising with other professionals and organisations.
- Attending professional meetings when the carer needs extra support (e.g. CIN. CP, family group conference, school meetings).
- Making referrals to other Kinship services such as Advice, Someone Like Me, Peer-to-Peer.
Key Dates:
- Application Deadline: 8am on 27 May 2024
- First Interview: w/c 3 June 2024
- Second Interview: TBC
The application process:
We will ask you for your CV and to respond to the following six questions via the Applied platform. Please note that all answers will be viewed anonymously by reviewers and CVs will not be viewed until after this sift has happened. This is the first opportunity to demonstrate your experience and to stand out in the recruitment process. Reviewers will not see all your answers together and will be marking on the strength of the response to each question. You will have 250 words per answer.
- a) Why you want to work for Kinship as a Project Worker in the Programmes Team; b) How your skills and experience make you well suited for this role?
- A big part of this role is face-to-face outreach and community engagement - how would you approach this? Can you give an example of approaches you have used when delivering tailored support to families?
- What are some of the challenges of delivering group-based support for kinship families? How would you mitigate those challenges to create a safe, inclusive space for kinship carers in East Sussex?
- This is a busy and varied role, please explain how you manage casework and prioritise your workload to maintain boundaries in how you work with families in crisis.
- Can you briefly describe a particularly challenging situation you faced in working within communities and how did you manage the situation? What was the outcome from your actions?
- Kinship has developed a set of values which are to: Step up; Be bold; Be stronger together; Put people first. Please explain how you would demonstrate these values in this role.
We support kinship carers in their homes and communities, giving advice and helping them work through problems to find the best way forward.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Introducing Chance UK
Join Our Team
Do you believe every child deserves the chance of a better future?
We’re a small team with a big ambition – to help every child flourish. The need for our work has never been greater and we are in an exciting period of growth in order to meet that challenge.
We provide a range of empowering services for children aged 5-13 and their parents and carers. We pride ourselves on developing evidence-based services, which put children at the heart of our work, and our services are designed to build social and emotional skills and resilience.
We know what we do works. We provide our unique support in a variety of ways and working at Chance UK puts you right at the heart of changing children’s and families’ lives. You will be a core part of our team, so it is vital you share our values and support our mission.
It is important that our team reflects the diversity of the communities we work with. We are actively seeking people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, people who identify as male and people from LGBTQ+ communities. We are also keen to hear from those who have lived or professional experience of the issues we work on, including school exclusion and Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND).
We value our team through offering a range of benefits, including:
- 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays, 2 Wellbeing days, an extra celebration day and additional leave over Christmas
- Matched pension contributions up to 5%, entitlement from the start of your employment
- Enhanced maternity/paternity and shared parental leave
- Flexible working
- Enhanced Sick Pay
- Access to employee assistance programme
Please note that Chance UK is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and therefore our recruitment process for this post will include an enhanced DBS check.
Key Information
Reporting to: Family Support Manager
Employment type: Full time
Director reports: N/A
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Location: Office based. We are a hybrid-working organisation. Our main office is a few minutes from Finsbury Park station.
Start date: ASAP
Salary: £27,563
Closing date: 12th May 2024
Interview: Week commencing 27th May 2024
About the Role
1 in 10 children in the UK have serious emotional and behavioural difficulties, which place them at further risk of negative outcomes later in life. Chance UK’s mission is to help support them to reduce these difficulties, find and acknowledge their strengths and talents, and to help them flourish. We do this via a structured 1:1 weekly mentoring programme, which matches them with specialist youth workers to mentor them for up to a year, alongside a range of support for their parent/carers.
Our approach is different from other services – we are there with the child and the family to understand what’s important to them, what they need, and give them the support, space and time to ensure the whole family is stronger. Chance UK’s Parent Programme Managers play a vital role in engaging parents in the mentoring support their children are receiving in order to get the best outcomes and lasting long-term positive change for the children.
Click to see the full job description and find out more about this role.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Please note, due to the nature of the service, it is an occupational requirement that the post holder is female and the post is therefore exempt from the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 in terms of Schedule 9, Part 1, and Paragraph 1 of the Act.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're looking for a Children and Family Worker to join the team in our West London Women's refuge. The service is a refuge accommodation for women and children surviving domestic abuse many of whom are living with trauma. we are looking for someone who really cares about the rights of women and their children.
As a Children and Family worker, you will support in providing a much needed safe and nurturing environment for children and their mother's, providing pathways, support and appropriate interventions to enable resettlement. You will support various teams to co-produce a tailored support plan which is altered to the individual's needs through a recovery model providing trauma informed and enabling environments to achieve this.
Shift Pattern: 37.5 hours per week, working on a rota which is over 7 days including evenings. You will be based on site within the service.
ABOUT YOU
We're looking for someone who can demonstrate compassion, empathy, empowerment and support to our residents in a trauma informed approach, able to communicate effectively with others and build purposeful relationships. You will be comfortable with the environment in which you will be working, with a passion to support women and their families rebuild confidents, relationships, and work towards their personal goals. You will be comfortable with lone and group working and have a passion to provide high quality care and support to others.
Benefits, including Non-Contractual Perks
- 25 days annual leave, increasing with the length of service
- Training and Development, including access to courses, upskilling, and progression plans
- Medicash includes discount gym memberships, routine optometry care, dental treatments, and physiotherapy treatments
- Employee Assistance Programme, including counselling
- Reflective Practice regular sessions with a therapist provided by an external provider to support Mental Health and Wellbeing.
- Life Assurance Scheme
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Annual Staff Awards
If you have the passion, creativity, and tenacity to make a real difference in people's lives, challenge stigma and make our communities safer, we would love to hear from you!
OVERVIEW OF KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Children and Family Relationships
- Provide parenting advice to support mothers and their families.
- Provide stimulating play opportunities to encourage children from all backgrounds to develop and express themselves, as well as support the children with their general learning, homework, and literacy.
- Support with early learning development, supporting mothers through advice and activity packs which aid their children’s learning and development.
- Deliver family sessions to support contract orders by social services and other organisations, as well as to help rebuild relationships, life skills, confidence, reliance, self-esteem and manage trauma.
- Offer age-appropriate sessions to children to provide a safe, encouraging, and development led environment which provides meaningful and memorable experiences.
- Work with residents and their keyworkers to understand complex needs to help build children’s and their families lives.
Support Working
- Build and sustain trusting and respectful relationships with our residents, including children.
- Create a safe, stable, psychologically informed environment which is nurturing to children and families.
- Provide support for residents, contributing to the development of support plans, risk assessments, reviews, regular support sessions and other personal development activities.
- Support with reducing barriers to reintegrating into communities, and re-developing confidence, skills, and coping mechanisms to support those with previous trauma.
- Develop and sustain therapeutic relationships with our residents, providing practical and emotional support with a trauma informed approach to ensure they are always treated with respect and dignity. Deal with sensitive information in a professional manner.
Additional Responsibilities
- Attend appointments as and when required in support of residents.
- Undertake shift lead responsibilities on rotation, taking responsibility for ensuring day-to-day support delivery is effective, with staff carrying out their designated responsibilities, alongside ensuring resident and service-specific follow up actions are completed.
- Housing Management responsibilities, ensure residents and staff are safe, and the surroundings are kept clean and well maintained.
Other responsibilities than those described above may be required to be undertaken from time to time and will be expected to be performed to as long as it is within the capability and level of the position.
KEY CRITERIA
What we are looking for:
- Understanding and/or experience of working with people of complex backgrounds
- Previous experience and/or in-depth knowledge about working with children who have experienced trauma
- IT Proficiency, ability to learn new software programs, basic Microsoft experience
- Understanding of the trauma children and families may go through due to domestic violence and other previous experiences
- Understanding of the social needs and support required for people with multiple and complex needs
- Understanding and/or practical knowledge of the social and societal marginalisation that can be attached to people with various challenging backgrounds, mental health, addiction, exploitation, homelessness, and previous convictions
What we would like, but not essential:
- Previous experience creating co-produced support plans, key working, and care planning, providing appropriate interventions for service users
- Previous experience providing housing support and practical assistance within a residential support role
- Appropriate Professional Qualification in: Social Care, Early years Education, Certificate in Childcare or other relevant
- Understanding and/or practical application of key legislation regarding social care, housing, criminal justice, and mental health
- Ability to Recognise signs of deteriorating mental health and initiate appropriate interventions to prevent crisis
Please refer to the JDPS attached for more details on the vacancy and our requirements/key criteria.
WORKING FOR US
ABOUT US
Social Interest Group (SIG) believes good care and support improve lives. Our values of ambition, empowerment, transparency, and inclusivity drive everything we do. Our mission is to empower people who are marginalised by building powerful partnerships and creative solutions that bridge gaps in provision and aid recovery, reablement and resettlement.
SIG is a not-for-profit organisation providing thousands of people with good-quality support and care in residential, drop-in centres, community floating support settings (including people's own homes), probation settings, and hospitals awaiting discharge. We do so across London, Brighton, Bedfordshire, Luton, and Kent. We believe in the power of well-planned, well-managed services to make a difference. We work with high standards and external and internal regulatory frameworks.
Want to know how we work? Watch our short Theory of Change video to see how we support people towards a brighter future: Theory of Change
Further details can be found on our website here: Theory of Change - Social Interest Group - Social Interest Group.
Our Values
Ambition – Eager to succeed and to accomplish as much as possible for our people
Empowerment – Giving staff and the people we support the tools, training, and information they need to achieve their potential
Transparency – Upfront and visible about our actions and open to scrutiny from stakeholders, service users, and staff
Inclusivity – Listening to, understanding, and including all our stakeholders to ensure we make a difference and get things right
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Please note that this job advert may close early due to screening applications on an ongoing basis. We advise applying as soon as possible for your application to be taken into consideration at the early stages.
Additional information on our company policies including Gender Pay, Equality and Diversity, Company Benefits and our Candidate Privacy Policy can be found on our website.
We have a rewarding opportunity for a Children’s Residential Support Worker to join our residential service in Lostock, Bolton.
Have you ever wanted to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable Children and Young People? Our children’s home provides support for young people with a diagnosis of autism and learning difficulties enabling them to build independence, communication and social skills.
The Together Trust is one of the North West’s leading charities, offering individual care, support, and education to hundreds of Children, Young People, and Adults each year. We are a not-for-profit charitable trust, so every penny goes back into benefiting the people that we support.
You will be working in a caring home environment with the wider team under the leadership of the Registered Manager, nurturing, and supporting the young people providing them with all the care, love and support that they would receive as if it was their family home.
Location - Lostock, Bolton
Hours - 37.5 hours per week
Starting Salary - £23,412.00 per annum with biennial increments
Additional payments - £96.00 for sleep-in shifts and a 25% uplift on hourly rate for weekend shifts.
About the position….
- As a Children’s Residential Support Worker, you will be attending to the needs of the children, planning activities considering that some of the Children and Young People may have additional and sometimes complex health needs.
- Working on your own initiative and as part of a team, you will be to preparing and assisting the young people to fulfil the aims of their person-centred plan. You will support the Children and Young People with communication working closely as a team that has a passion to improve their lives whilst in our care.
- You will work flexibly to undertake the full range of duties in a well-planned way that respects and values the Children and Young People as individuals.
We provide compassionate, nurturing care for children who are in crisis and have complex needs, supporting them to move on from a difficult past to a brighter future.
What can you bring to the team….?
You don’t have to have any previous childcare experience as full training is provided, but if you have experience that is a bonus! We look for applicants who have the following skills.
- Good communication and interpersonal skills. You’ll be expected to liaise with other staff, parents/carers, and professionals.
- An ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team, taking the lead when required, maintaining & encouraging open and honest communication.
- A good standard of written English and IT skills would be essential, you will be writing reports and keep record of the Children and Young Peoples progress.
- Transporting children / young people to an activity or school is a requirement. A driving licence that has been held for 12 months would be desirable.
- If you don’t have direct experience of working with children maybe you have transferrable skills to bring to the role.
We also offer….
- Biennial salary increments.
- 27 days annual leave rising to 30 after 5 years and 33 after 10 years plus bank holidays.
- Occupational sick pay and family friendly policies including enhanced maternity.
- Together rewards platform for discounts and wellbeing support.
- After you have successfully completed a 6-month probation period, you will undertake a QCF level 3 or 4 qualification with support from an assessor and supervision.
We also provide a caring, supportive environment for all our employees, with a strong emphasis on a good work / life balance, and this something you can’t put a value on!
Apply now!
To discover the full details of this rewarding role within the Together Trust take a look at our Job Description. The Job Pack outlines lots of information about the Trust and our benefits.
Visit our website -
Take a look at our short video
Does this sound like you? If you think you might have the relevant skills and experience we’re looking for, please get in touchjobs @ togethertrust. org . uk or apply now. We would love to hear from you!
We may remove this advert should we find the successful candidates prior to the closing date therefore early applications are encouraged.
We currently do not provide sponsorship but we welcome applications from those who have the right to work in the UK.
We are a Real Living Wage employer.
Together Trust has committed to paying all staff a significantly higher salaries than the government minimum wage. By officially registering as a Living Wage employer, we are showing our commitment to our employees, now and in the future.
In order for the Trust to comply with the apprenticeship funding rules, it is a requirement of the role that the successful applicant must be able to evidence that (1) they have the right to work in the UK without additional approval for more than 20 hours each week throughout the year and (2) they have an eligible residency status for the purposes of the apprenticeship funding rules. In most cases this will mean that the individual needs to show that they have been ''ordinarily resident'' in particular countries (including the UK) at least 3 years before the start of the apprenticeship.
We are a UK charity supporting children in care and people with disabilities, autism and complex needs in the North West.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Purpose and Scope of the Role
To enable and empower newly arrived often vulnerable refugees to settle into their new communities with confidence.
Postholders will work closely with the volunteers, bank staff and Project Coordinators to provide a wraparound service to our clients across the region. Key elements of the service will include support with welfare benefits/income maximisation, immigration, housing, health, education and employment.
There will be a requirement to record and document contact using online systems, ensuring an evidence-based practice model of working and seamless support delivery for our clients.
Main duties and responsibilities
Manage a caseload of clients/households:
· Provide initial reception and orientation at client’s homes and within their local community settings
· Carry out a holistic needs assessment and prepare a Personal Integration Plan with every household on a quarterly basis, preferably in the clients homes.
· Negotiate specialist intervention with external agencies as appropriate according to the client’s needs.
· To be the lead contact for all agencies and responsible for coordinating support for your key clients.
· To work with families in a variety of locations such as within their home, RMC premises, on outreach and via digital means.
· To jointly agree a plan leading to beneficiary independence and service exit as per project requirements
· Where possible deliver the service in a community language
· To deliver a comprehensive action plan for welcoming the refugees from preparation prior to arrival and support for the first year. This includes but is not limited to:
· Housing situation and housing/tenancy related goals and checking suitability of accommodation with relevant hosts, landlords and/or any other housing partners.
Welcoming families upon arrival
· Registering with GP’s, dentists and opticians; attending medical assessments and appointments; securing appropriate specialist medical care and liaising with different health services;
· Working with Social Services to ensure all special needs are addressed;
· Registering for Biometric Residence Cards and ensuring that immigration paperwork is correct and any errors or discrepancies are reported to the relevant Home Office department by an OISC qualified adviser from the wider team.
· Ensure the Home Office is notified if BRP cards are not issued within the timescales set out by Home Office service standards.
· Ensure that all newly arrived are given immigration advice as required by referring them to an OISC qualified advisor within RMC.
· Ensure that every newly arrived adult above the age of 18 has access to their own bank account.
· Ensuring that refugees understand their financial rights and responsibilities
· Complete a full Entitled To calculation with all newly arrived households and apply for relevant welfare benefit provisions from DWP and HMRC.
· Support refugees with mandatory reconsiderations as required.
· Support with access to individual grants if required.
· Providing on-going orientation to the UK – information, classes, workshops and visits by key statutory services;
· Registering and supporting children with local schools;
· Facilitating access to ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes for all newly arrived adults;
· Signposting and assisting in training, education and employment to ensure long term independence
· Refer into other provision as provided by third party organisations
· Organising trips and outings to places of interest and providing opportunities for social interaction and accompany refugees if required as per ongoing Personal Integration Plan and risk assessment.
· To provide client centric support around all areas of need including housing, welfare, employment, substance misuse, family reunion and social engagement.
· To ensure that this work has a focus on fostering the independence of the clients and has respect for the culture, personal history and situation of all its users.
· To promote the long-term integration of refugees and the development of refugee communities by providing a range of tailored services to them and through working with other service providers to maximise opportunities for refugees.
· To work with clients to facilitate their access and engagement with mainstream statutory and voluntary sector services.
· To ensure that this work is carried out in accordance with RMC’s values, principles, policies and procedures, specifically those around equal opportunity, confidentiality, impartiality and non-directive advice.
· With the support of the Coordinator and Manager, to maintain and develop excellent working relationships with and between external stakeholders to improve the availability of mainstream and specialist services for newly arrived refugees.
· To work as part of a multi-skilled team, supporting your colleagues and volunteers to achieve outcomes.
· To keep full, accurate and up-to-date case records.
· To provide written and oral reports as required.
· To work with the coordinator in reviewing, planning and developing the service delivered to beneficiaries
· To carry out monitoring and evaluation processes as appropriate
For the Charity
· To play an active role in one or more RMC’s working groups as required.
· To liaise with other teams in RMC as appropriate.
· To attend regular team meetings, to share information, monitor services and foster effective and supportive teamwork.
· To participate in supervision, appraisal and training as agreed with the Manager.
· To carry out administrative tasks in support of own work (e.g. word- processing, filing and recording on RMC’s database).
· To carry out other duties consistent with the nature of the post, and in furtherance of the project.
· To carry out all the above in accordance with the aims, values and policies of RMC confidentiality, impartiality and Equal Opportunities.
The above duties will be prioritised by the Head of Services in consultation with the post-holder. The post-holder may be asked to re-organise his/her work to help RMC to respond to changes in type or extent of needs of refugees, which can arise from time to time. This would be done in a way consistent with the purposes of the post and in consultation with the post-holder.
A DBS check will be carried out for this post.
Flexibility
To deliver the stated aims of for this post, a degree of flexibility and agility is needed. The post holder may be required to perform work not specifically referred to above, such duties will fall within the scope of the job and be directly related within the appropriate pay grade. The job description will therefore be subject to periodic review with the post holder to ensure it accurately reflects the duties that are being performed
Person Specification
Experience and Skills
Desirable
Essential
Experience of working with vulnerable people and an understanding of the needs of refugees, and the issues or difficulties which may affect their resettlement.
X
Experience of comprehensively assessing need and creating risk management plans for multiple individuals.
X
Experiences of supporting people to address their needs through support planning, case management and an understanding of the importance of involving clients fully as possible in that process.
X
Experience of working with a wide range of professionals to access needs led intervention.
X
Experience of working within a multitier staff team, inclusive of supporting volunteers to support clients.
X
Knowledge and awareness of how to engage with hard-to-reach individuals, and understanding of the potential barriers to active engagement.
X
An understanding of the issues facing refugees during integration to a new community.
X
Good knowledge of the services available to support refugees.
X
Proven ability to communicate and negotiate to a high level and build strong partnerships, both verbal and non-verbally with shareholders and stakeholders.
X
Good organisational and monitoring skills, with the ability to prioritise.
X
Excellent administrative skills including good computing skills and the ability to use I.T. applications.
X
Understanding and a commitment to diversity and equality, with demonstrable cultural competence.
X
Ability to lone work and complete delegated task with own initiative.
X
Ability to be flexible to the needs of the organisation.
X
Enthusiasm and willingness to agile working and outreach activities.
X
Ability to speak a community language
X
Good local knowledge
X
OISC (Office of Immigration Services Commission) regulated
X
Experience of providing outreach support to families in their home and in community settings
X
Car driver
X
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
You will be working with children and families to provide trauma informed support with the aim of reducing trauma symptoms and rebuild relationships.
KEY RESPONSIBILITY
To work with children (aged 5 – 16) and their families to provide trauma informed support with the aim of reducing trauma symptoms, rebuilding relationships fractured by domestic abuse and helping the non-abusive parent to understand the impact of domestic abuse on their children so they are better able to support them.
DIRECT WORK WITH CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES
- To understand and assess the needs of children and families and devise a child-focused support plan
- To utilise evidence-based approaches to strengthen attachments and rebuilt relationships with the non-abusive parent that have been fractured as a result of domestic abuse
- To utilise trauma informed ways of working to reduce trauma symptoms and distress in children
- To work with families in order increase stability and reduce risk 5
- To assist the non-abusive parent / carer in their understanding of the impact of domestic abuse so that they can respond appropriately to the emotional needs of the children
- To attend and initiate mutli-agency meetings where required
- To ensure that children and families receive holistic support that is appropriate to their needs, including advocacy and referring to other services
- To deliver programmes of child-focused group work
- To understand risk and safeguarding issues and act appropriately in relation to risk at all times.
- To work within national, county and ESDAS guidelines, particularly in relation to good practice regarding children
- To provide written reports and case studies to senior management as and when required.
You will receive support and training and a competitive starting salary of £20,000 for a 28 hour week. Reduced hours may be possible by agreement. This is a two-year fixed term post with the possibility of becoming permanent after two years.
We are looking for someone who will work with professionalism, empathy and kindness, have knowledge of working with children and families who have experienced trauma due to abuse and have a trauma informed, child focused approach. Experience of working with complex family situations where there are safeguarding concerns with the ability to assess risk is required.
You will be based at our office in Redhill and you must be able to reliably commute to the office.
For further information (including a full Job Description and Person Specification) please read the Candidate Pack.
We follow NSPCC safer recruitment guidelines and we do not accept CVs, please complete the application form within the candidate pack
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
£31,133 per annum plus £802 essential car user allowance + excellent benefits including 30 days holiday and flexible working
Fixed term contract until March 2027 – linked to funding
Closing date: Sunday 12th May 2024 at 11.30 pm
Do you have a good understanding of child development and the needs of homeless families and children plus proven experience of supporting parents and children with complex needs? Then join Shelter as a Children & Families Support Worker. This is an exciting opportunity and you will play a key part in standing up to the housing emergency.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
About the team
At Shelter Bristol we provide front line support to over 5000 people a year, through housing advice and support. We strive for change to address the underlying systems that are causing the housing emergency. The range of support also includes legal representation, practical DIY assistance, and welfare benefits advice, so people can address their housing and other related issues. We also raise awareness of housing rights within the community so people can take their own actions and work in partnership with other local organisations.
About the role
You will have your own caseload of families, acting as their key worker and supporting them to either resettle or prevent homelessness. Your primary focus will be on households where some tailored interventions are required around the needs of the children to stabilise their housing situation and enable the family to thrive. You’ll need to provide intensive, tailored support as part of a whole family approach both in a 1-2-1 setting and through group work. You’ll also need to regularly visits clients’ homes and schools across the city liaising with other agencies in the community to provide a co-ordinated service.
We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.
About you
You will have knowledge of housing, homelessness and ASB legislation and welfare benefits that affect families and the skills to network and gather information as well as advocacy, negotiation and problem solving skills. You’ll need to be able to demonstrate that you have worked within, or understand, a safeguarding framework, have experience of managing a caseload and can prioritise, organise and set boundaries.
You’ll need to be able to use a range of IT tools to carry out your work, including case management systems, Microsoft Office applications, internet and email etc. You must also possess a valid driving licence and be willing to use your vehicle for work purposes, for which an essential car allowance will be paid.
How to apply:
Please click ‘Apply for Job’ below. You are required to submit a CV and responses to the following points of the ‘About You’ section of the job description of no more than 350 words each.
- You will have knowledge of the following areas and be able to apply this to your support work:
- child development and an understanding of the needs of homeless families and children.
- homelessness and housing legislation, ASB legislation, welfare benefits that affect families.
- You will have experience of working within a safeguarding framework and be able to demonstrate your role within this.
- You will have experience of supporting parents and children with complex needs and developing parent and child activities, including through play.
Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviours below throughout your responses:
- We prioritise diversity and have an inclusive and open mindset
- We work together to achieve our shared purpose
- We enable decision making
- We learn from our experiences and are open to risk
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We’re here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own. Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Barnardo's are excited to be recruiting to a new post – a Wellbeing Practitioner who will be embedded within the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and Young People (UASC) team within Nottinghamshire County Council. This new opportunity will be part of the larger Time 2 Talk team based within Nottinghamshire County Council's Leaving Care team.
We are recruiting to one fixed term post of one year at 37 hours per week. This post will be employed by Barnardo's and will primarily be based in Arnold. However the post will involve travel across the County and potentially further afield depending on where UASC young people are located.Nottinghamshire County Council's UASC team works across children in care and leaving care services, and works with young people from the age of approx. 14 to 25.
We are looking to recruit 1 full time (37 hours) Wellbeing Practitioner for one year with the following qualifications/skills/experience:
- A professional qualification (Minimum Diploma level), with evidence of continuing professional development in a field relevant to child and young person mental health
- Registered with a Professional Body such as BACP, HCPC, UKCP, NMC
- Experience in supporting children and young people in one or more ways detailed below:
Person Centred Therapy
Integrative
Behavioural (DBT, CBT)
Counselling
EMDR
- An understanding of the challenges UASC young people face.
- An understanding of legislation and policies in relation to Safeguarding young people.
- A commitment to and understanding of the need to work with UASC young people in a trauma informed way.
- A commitment to working in partnership and collaborating with the Leaving Care team and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust particularly the Transitions team, the Children in Care CAMHS team and Adult Mental Health services.
- Experience offering mental health support, consultation and interventions to young people and professionals working with them; ensuring the young person actively participates in planning their own support.
Previous applicants need not apply.
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
Pay & Reward Framework
We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.
For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out 1st April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a key pillar of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to grow and develop in their career at Barnardo's as it will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues to progress through the pay band of their role.
Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay progression steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Children and Young People’s Engagement Coordinator
Hours: Full-Time, 35 hours per week
Starting salary: £25,767
Location: Contractual base is our office in Chorley. You will be working in youth settings in East Lancashire: Blackburn with Darwen, Pendle and Burnley
Do you want to join an organisation who are passionate about improving mental health and wellbeing for Lancashire communities?
We’re looking for a bold and caring person to join our Children and Young People’s team. We want someone who has experience of engaging and working with young people in community settings, ideally in Lancashire.
To succeed in the role, you will need excellent communication skills, be confident, driven and have the ability to work autonomously in the community. You will be open, hardworking, creative and able to quickly build rapport with young people.
You will have experience working with the community and voluntary sector and understand the barriers some young people face to achieving good mental health and wellbeing.
This is an exciting time for Lancashire Mind as our children and young people’s services are growing, enabling us to reach and support more people. We want someone who believes in our vision of a Lancashire where everyone can have the best mental health and wellbeing possible.
Lancashire Mind has a dedicated workplace wellbeing programme to ensure staff are supported with their own wellbeing which includes an Employee Assistance Programme, a half-day wellbeing day and wellbeing activities throughout the year.
We also offer a workplace pension scheme, paid emergency time off to care for dependents, regular supervision, and a commitment to supporting learning and development opportunities. We have also recently enhanced our annual leave offer with basic annual leave of 25 days, plus 3 days closure between xmas and new year, long service leave, the option to buy or sell annual leave and a half-day wellbeing day for all staff.
Above all, we are a friendly and supportive place to work; ‘Great staff team, positive and supportive culture’ (Lancashire Mind wellbeing survey, March 2024)
Please note: This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.
Deadline for applications: 9am on 22 May
Interviews will be held on 30 May
Registered Charity Number 1081427
Registered Company Number 3888655
Lancashire Mind
We're working towards a Lancashire where everyone can have the best mental health and wellbeing possible
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Children’s Residential Support Worker (LD)
Have you ever wanted to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable Children and Young People? Our children’s home in Cheadle Hulme rest bite care for Children and Young People with Learning Difficulties and Complex Care Needs
The Together Trust is one of the North West’s leading charities, offering individual care, support, and education to hundreds of Children, Young People, and Adults each year. We are a not-for-profit charitable trust, so every penny goes back into benefiting the people that we support.
You will be working in a caring home environment with the wider team under the leadership of the Registered Manager, nurturing, and supporting the young people providing them with all the care, love and support that they would receive as if it was their family home.
Location – Cheadle Hulme
Hours- 37.5 hours per week
Salary - £23,412 per annum (£12.01ph)
£96.00 for sleep-in shifts.
25% uplift on hourly rate for weekend shifts.
We also offer….
- Bi-annual salary increments.
- 27 days annual leave rising to 30 after 5 years and 33 after 10 years plus bank holidays.
- Occupational sick pay and family friendly policies including enhanced maternity.
- Together rewards platform for discounts and wellbeing support.
- After you have successfully completed a 6-month probation period, you will undertake a QCF level 3 or 4 qualification with support from an assessor and supervision.
We also provide a caring, supportive environment for all our employees, with a strong emphasis on a good work / life balance, and this something you can’t put a value on!
Please see the attached list for the full list of benefits on working for the Together Trust.
About the position….
- As a Children’s Residential Support Worker, you will be attending to the needs of the children, planning activities considering that some of the Children and Young People may have additional and sometimes complex health needs.
- Working on your own initiative and as part of a team, you will be to preparing and assisting the young people to fulfil the aims of their person-centred plan. You will support the Children and Young People with communication working closely as a team that has a passion to improve their lives whilst in our care.
- You will work flexibly to undertake the full range of duties in a well-planned way that respects and values the Children and Young People as individuals.
We provide compassionate, nurturing care for children who are in crisis and have complex needs, supporting them to move on from a difficult past to a brighter future.
About you….
You don’t have to have any previous childcare experience as full training is provided, but if you have experience that is a bonus! We look for applicants who have the following skills.
- Good communication and interpersonal skills. You’ll be expected to liaise with other staff, parents/carers, and professionals.
- Am ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team, taking the lead when required, maintaining & encouraging open and honest communication.
- A good standard of written English and IT skills would be essential, you will be writing reports and keep record of the Children and Young Peoples progress.
- Transporting children / young people to an activity or school is a requirement. A driving licence that has been held for 12 months would be desirable.
Is this you? Are you ready to make a positive change? Then please take a closer look at theFull Job Description and Person Specification are attached to this advert.
We are a Real Living Wage employer.
Together Trust has committed to paying all staff a significantly higher salaries than the government minimum wage. By officially registering as a Living Wage employer, we are showing our commitment to our employees, now and in the future.
Apply now!
If you think you might have the relevant skills and experience, we are looking for, please get in touchjobs @ togethertrust .org. uk or apply now.
In order for the Trust to comply with the apprenticeship funding rules, it is a requirement of the role that the successful applicant must be able to evidence that (1) they have the right to work in the UK without additional approval for more than 20 hours each week throughout the year and (2) they have an eligible residency status for the purposes of the apprenticeship funding rules. In most cases this will mean that the individual needs to show that they have been ''ordinarily resident'' in particular countries (including the UK) at least 3 years before the start of the apprenticeship.
We welcome applications from those with a right to work in the UK. We do not currently sponsor overseas staff.
We may remove this vacancy prior to the expiry date if a suitable candidate is found therefore early applications are encouraged.
Shortlisting will take place throughout the duration of the advert as we are seeking more than one individual.
We are a UK charity supporting children in care and people with disabilities, autism and complex needs in the North West.
Job Title: Local Lay Pastor
Location of job: Hybrid role - Andover Methodist Church with opportunities for some home working
Job Type: Full-time (38 hours per week)
Contract Type: Permanent with initial funding for 3 years and subject to a 3‑month probationary period
Salary: £23,712 per annum
About the Role
Andover Methodist Church is a welcoming church in the centre of Andover. Our vision is to change Andover by being a community of love, of hope and of justice - Love like Jesus, Justice living like Jesus, Hope because of Jesus.
We are looking for someone who has a passion and expertise for establishing positive and productive relationships with families and a commitment to their participation in the life of the church. The main focus of this role will be to work with us to develop our pastoral care and work programme for children and families within the church. We have a desire to further extend our outreach into the local schools and community.
This role is an important part of promoting our vision to Andover and as such has a genuine occupational requirement that the post‑holder is a practising Christian (as outlined by 2010 Equality Act, Section 9).
This role will require a satisfactory Enhanced DBS disclosure & the completion of the Advanced Safeguarding training course of the Methodist Church.
The nature of this role necessitates flexible working hours, including evenings and weekends.
About You
You should have a nationally recognised qualification in Children’s, Youth or Community work or equivalent experience evidenced for the role.
You should have the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the Church’s work with families, especially knowledge of Safeguarding and child protection procedures.
You should have proven experience of working with children and families in a paid or voluntary capacity in previous roles. This is an essential criteria.
You should have excellent people skills (both adult and youth), good organisational ability and be adept at creative thinking.
You should have a professional and positive approach, with a commitment to professional development and self‑improvement. Undertaking Core Skills Family Ministries Training will be an early opportunity to demonstrate this.
It is important that you are able to demonstrate awareness of, and sensitivity to, issues of equality, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to working with families from a diverse range of backgrounds and needs.
Our Culture, Values and Benefits
Thank you for considering joining our inclusive and welcoming church that strives to be a community of love, of hope and of justice. We value and support all who join our team through a positive work‑life balance augmented by generous annual leave and TOIL. We offer an occupational pension scheme to which you will be auto‑enrolled and to which we will also contribute.
We are an inclusive and affirming church. We welcome all people regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity, background or disability. We are registered for same-sex marriage and celebrate our diversity in Christ.
N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive sufficient applications. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Closing date: 30th April 2024
Interview Date: 23rd May 2024
Please complete the application form and the equality and diversity monitoring form and return them to the email address detailed on page 2 of the application form
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Family Support Worker
6 Months Maternity Cover
£21,000 per annum + benefits (company car, 25 days annual leave, and pension)
Brentwood, Essex
Essex Care Team, this role covers Essex and surrounding areas, including Chelmsford
Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity is going through an exciting time where we are growing, with the aim of reaching more families in need.
About the role:
We are looking to appoint a Family Support Worker (6 months) to deliver a high-quality family support service as part of our Essex Care Team.
Reporting to the Family Support Manager working in partnership with health, education and social care professionals, you will take responsibility for providing needs-led emotional, social and practical support to families where a child/young person has a life threatening or terminal illness.
What we’re looking for:
· An experienced child health, education or social care professional - applications will be particularly welcome from those who have worked in a community environment and those with a recognised qualification in education, health or social care.
· A warm, inclusive approach to achieving goals quickly and correctly.
· Practiced in child protection, information sharing and the rules around data protection - you lead by example, drawing on your own professional experience and working within established guidelines.
· Practical and people-oriented - you will thrive working at a fast pace whilst maintaining accuracy and be a confident user of IT (including MSOffice)
· A persuasive and open communicator, you will work collaboratively with your team and volunteers to ensure delivery of a high-quality service and support fundraising colleagues by writing case studies and family updates
· A practical knowledge of diversity issues affecting children, young people, and their families – aware that being responsive to others needs and concerns, is essential.
What we offer:
We have a range of fantastic benefits that we offer our employees, including:
· Flexible working hours to balance home and working life
· Employee Assistance Programme with access to remote GP, counselling, physiotherapy, resources to support your mental health and financial wellbeing, as well as a 24/7 helpline via Help@Hand
· Company car for front line care posts
· Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme, and other rewards and discounts
· Bike to work, season ticket loan and payroll giving schemes, as well as a recommend a friend recruitment bonus
· Family friendly policies, focused on employee wellbeing, and an active cross-organisational wellbeing group running a number of initiatives throughout the year
· Pension scheme where we contribute 5% of your salary and you contribute at least 3%
· The option to buy/sell annual leave, as well as additional leave for your birthday, wedding/civil ceremony and an extra half day off for Christmas shopping
· Robust training and development programmes to support your learning and growth
We also have a fantastic learning and development programme - the Anne Harris skills development programme - in which we aim to provide a high level of training and development opportunities for all staff, so you are able to perform to the best of your ability, achieve individual and team objectives aligned to Rainbow Trusts strategic plan, supporting staff to be the best they can be, and feel a valued member of a high performing organisation.
Our Family Support Workers are given the opportunity to complete a number of diverse training courses in their first 12 months, including but not limited to: Mental Health First Aid, Makaton, counselling skills, and Introduction to Play.
The programme aims to provide a building block for you to individually tailor your own learning and development needs, with all family support workers having a foundation level of skills within their first year.
How to apply:
Please click on apply button and apply online.
Interviews will take place either on Teams or at our Essex Care team office, with the dates to be confirmed. If you require any adjustments during the interview process, please let us know.
There will be a requirement for flexible working and a full current driver’s licence to accommodate team and family need. An enhanced DBS disclosure will be required for this post.
Rainbow Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees to share this commitment.
Rainbow Trust is an equal opportunities employer and a Best Companies One-Star rated organisation.
Holloway Road, London base with service delivery in various locations across London boroughs
We are currently seeking dynamic Practitioners to join our Children & Young People’s service (CYPS), working directly with young people affected by domestic abuse.
Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP), a division of Richmond Fellowship since 2018, has been a leading provider of Respect accredited community perpetrator programmes working to stop domestic violence, increase safety for women and children, and reduce harm to families for over 29 years.
This role requires a good understanding of adolescent development, domestic abuse, child abuse and trauma, and the impacts of these on young people’s development, as well as a good understanding of the nature of domestic violence and its effects on women and children, and on the parent-child relationship. You will have experience of direct work with young people and their parents/carers, working flexibly but robustly and supportively, responding to challenging or harmful behaviour to facilitate change. You will have experience of providing structured one-to-one and/or group work counselling or behavioural change interventions, and of working with both children and adults from diverse backgrounds. You will have an excellent understanding of safeguarding procedures and be confident working both independently and as part of a team, working closely and collaboratively alongside partner agencies such as Children’s Services, Schools and Youth Offending Services.
You will have the opportunity to play a key role in developing DVIP’s young people’s services, working in partnerships with a range of statutory and voluntary agencies to deliver effective community responses to domestic violence, in line with RESPECT practice standards. Day to day, you will be working flexibly across a number of locations, including providing outreach in schools and other relevant or referring services, managing referrals, assessing risk and suitability for therapeutic intervention, and engaging families.
In this rewarding role you will be working directly with young people and their parents/carers, delivering structured interventions to increase safety, as well as providing specialist support to other professionals working with families experiencing abuse, through provision of expert consultations and training.
You will be able to work independently and flexibly, including some early evenings if needed, within any London Borough, where DVIP is contracted, for part of the working week. You will be comfortable managing your own workload and related admin, and you will be able to communicate clearly with a range of people about sensitive and complex issues, including the writing of professional reports.
This is a permanent full time role requiring the post-holder to work 37.5 hours a week.
This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in facilitating positive change for young people and their families who have been impacted by abuse and violence.
To apply please visit our website. It is a mandatory requirement of the application process for this post that candidates submit a CV and Supporting Statement, thus only candidates that provide this, and who meet the essential criteria within the person specification, will be considered for an interview.
Closing date: 2nd June 2024. However, we reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the advertised date if sufficient applications are received.
DVIP are actively seeking to develop a workforce which reflects the diverse communities we work within; we offer flexible working arrangements and ongoing professional development to all staff and volunteers. Applicants who speak another language fluently are particularly welcome. We also welcome applications from those with lived experience and/or who are from a BAME background.
This post is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced DBS Disclosure.
Richmond Fellowship is part of Recovery Focus, a national group of charities highly experienced in providing specialist support services to individuals and families living with the effects of mental ill health, drug and alcohol use, gambling and domestic violence. From 1st June 2024 Richmond Fellowship will be merging with the mental health charity Humankind to form a single organisation that provides the joined-up mental health, housing and drug and alcohol support we’ve all known has been needed for decades. In October 2024, Humankind will then be renamed to reflect the new, bigger and better organisation.
You'll develop and strengthen our work with children within our passionate, inclusive and diverse faith community, particularly but not exclusively within our Sunday gatherings.
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One Church Brighton is quite an unusual church! We are messy, organic and entrepreneurial; we have a variety of projects all trying to tackle social justice issues; and we seek to encourage people to get involved with issues that they are passionate about, rather than directing the agenda from ‘the top’. We have a wonderfully eclectic worshipping church community who appreciate the space to ask awkward questions and embrace different views. We are known for expressing an inclusive theology - if you are not open to embracing and welcoming people of different sexualities, different beliefs, different attitudes and behaviours you will find it very hard to work for One Church. If however this is the kind of thinking that thrills you, then you’ll find a wonderfully affirming community who are genuinely trying to build God’s kingdom here in Brighton.
The outcome of this theological thinking has shaped a set of values that we believe in wholeheartedly and shape all that we do as a church. These values are:
Intimacy with God
Involvement in the world
Interdependence with one another
Inclusion of everyone
and Integrity in all we do.
We are hoping to find a very special person to join in the journey of One Church, helping us to develop our children’s work so all in our church family are equipped and nurtured to live out the ethos and values of our faith as we follow Christ. Specifically, we want someone who translates all that’s good about One Church and communicates and embodies that to the younger generation who call this church their home. Working alongside the Associate Minister, we want someone to share the overall responsibility for the spiritual health and discipleship of our children’s work. You will be passionate about children, and also able to encourage other people to engage with and nurture this generation in their expression of faith.
Key responsibilities
To work alongside the Associate Minister and Youth Worker to ensure that strong, proactive pastoral care exists across the children and youth by coordinating and delivering a high-quality children’s (0-11) programme on Sundays and beyond.
Whilst supporting a great team of volunteers you will oversee and nurture the children’s work across One Church including the development of age appropriate curriculum to be used on Sundays. As a Church that openly questions, we want to encourage this ethos across the whole family and especially our children and young people. Therefore, you must have a real heart for children and their spiritual formation and be comfortable chatting with them, as well as their parents, about their faith and experiences of God, giving them a real sense of belonging within the wider church family.
The linking of our children’s work and the teaching themes on Sunday aim to ensure we always reflect our key values so they make sense in the real world. You will lead this work through our Sunday children’s groups – Buds (pre school), Saplings (school years r-2) and Forest (school years 3-6) – as well as supporting children’s activities in our wider church events such as the church weekend away.
Sunday children’s work development.
To nurture our children on their faith journey, in a way that reflects the values and ethos of One Church. In practise, this will involve:
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Organising great kids work content that is dynamic, creative and inclusive, and that enables every child to make sense of faith in the real world.
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Pulling together a curriculum of content that helps the kids grow in, question, and express faith. This will involve drawing on external resources where helpful, but also developing resources where there aren’t suitable children’s group work curricula available.
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Ensuring that our church space is a suitably equipped, bright, attractive place that is child friendly and accessible for everyone including those with additional needs.
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Being creative and thinking ‘outside the box’ about what kids work in a church should be - we don’t want to be bound by the way things have always been done.
Discipleship and community outside of Sundays.
We have a wonderful group of children, and our heart is to provide more spaces for them to grow in love, community and discipleship together beyond Sunday mornings. This might look like meeting up to fly kites together, forming some regular Journey Groups or mentoring relationships to do life and faith in meaningful ways, taking trips to Rock Farm (our therapeutic smallholding in West Sussex) to get some dirt under their nails, or alternatively just getting together to watch a movie and paint their nails! Whatever it looks like, we believe that a life of faith is a life best done together, and we want our kids to have that sense of being a part of a family in which they are completely welcome to be themselves, to bring their faith and their questions, and to see the whole of life as a part of their spiritual journey.
We are particularly keen to invest in our Key Stage 2 group as they transition to become part of our youth work. We also encourage collaboration with our Youth Group and joint sessions to explore and develop mentorship opportunities across the age groups. You, alongside the Youth Worker will be responsible for how this comes together to develop a strong pathway between the groups.
Supporting families.
Parenting is rarely a walk in the park, and helping kids find their feet in faith can be tricky at the best of times. To add to this, though, many of the parents and carers in our church are asking questions around what it looks like to support our kids in faith when their own understanding of God and the Bible is often uncertain and full of more questions than answers! How do we pass on the great bits of our faith without some of the more problematic baggage that often comes along with it? This isn’t an easy question and it’s not one that you’ll come sailing in with an answer to, but it is one that you’ll need to be able to engage with with as you spend time carefully listening to, and encouraging our children and their parents.
Volunteer Recruitment and Support.
Recruiting, training and developing volunteers is absolutely essential to this role! Without a team of inspired and enthusiastic volunteers your job will be impossible. Working out strategies, communicating with passion and vision and following people up in informal and fun ways are key to getting people to volunteer and you’ll need to invest well in this task for the success of the children’s work for One Church. You’ll
hold regular meetings with your team of volunteers to provide support and motivation, with help from our Volunteer Coordinator, Head of Operations and Associate Minister.
Communication.
We need to tell others about all that is happening in the life of our children’s work! Part of this role will be communicating with parents and the wider church family about how One Church is equipping and nurturing their children through their spiritual journey and Christian faith. Alongside one to one chats, this will also involve the ability to inspire through ‘up-front’ verbal communication in a variety of settings including children’s talks/activities on Sundays, as well as web-based and printed communications.
Administration.
Self-organisation, good time-keeping and an attention to detail will be key. The coordination and support of a rota and clear plan for our children’s work is crucial. The better our children’s work is organised, the easier it’ll be for parents and volunteers to be engaged and to feel supported.
Safeguarding.
This role will, with support from the Associate Minister and the Safeguarding team, be responsible for ensuring good practices around child-protection and safeguarding as well as the health and safety of our kids and team.
Team Work.
We have a diverse and broad staff team, your role will sit within the Sundays and Church Community Team (Minister, Associate Minister, Development and Wellbeing facilitator and Youth Worker). You will need to be good at, and committed to, working with others. This might be quite intensive times of working one-on-one with a colleague or it might be simply being aware of the work of another team, but either way your role will help foster a strong sense of togetherness and a supportive culture where nobody’s work is more important than anyone else’s. You’ll also be a part of our weekly wider staff meeting.
Kids work in the community.
We’ve always dreamed of increasing our kids work to benefit more people in our local area and across the city, whether that’s by exploring options to support struggling children in local schools, meeting and building relationship with families that use our café, supporting the work of Chomp, or any initiative that helps families at their point of need. This might be tricky to fit into 16 hours a week, but funding dependent, we’d be really open to expanding the role to include this area of work.
Official bits.
Benefits
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5% pension on qualifying earnings
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Development of the post holder towards their full potential
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An annual retreat will be encouraged and paid for by One Church
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25 days holiday, plus bank holidays (on a pro rata basis)
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The chance to be part of a fun and energetic team.
One Church reserves the right to vary or amend the duties and responsibilities of the post holder at any time according to the needs of the church.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.