Social Work Jobs in Leeds
We are excited to recruit a Community Organiser for our Bradford Parent Power project. This role offers a meaningful, paid professional development opportunity. The Brilliant Club will work in partnership with Queens’ College, Cambridge, Dixons Academies Trust and Go Higher West Yorkshire to engage with parents in Bradford. The parental engagement model used will be based on the successful Parent Power South London and Oldham Parent Power projects.
- Dixons are committed to making a difference where it matters most, working to improve the future for thousands of children in parts of the north of England where young lives are adversely affected by social and educational disadvantage. We believe that every child, regardless of their background, should be able to fulfil their academic potential and go on to thrive. Founded by Dixons City Academy, the trust has over 30 years’ experience in transforming education through their network of high-performing, non-faith academies, operating in Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester.
- Queens’ College supports world-leading teaching and research in a beautiful and welcoming environment, and has been in the heart of Cambridge for more than five centuries. At Queens’ we know that attracting the best students from a diverse range of backgrounds is essential if we are to continue to thrive as a vibrant and creative academic community in the twenty-first century. We are committed to enabling the widest possible participation and are proud to be partnered with schools across Bradford through the Cambridge University Area Links scheme. We work with communities across the city to break down some of the myths and misconceptions that have grown up around selective Higher Education, giving young people accurate and up-to-date information to enable them to make the decisions that are right for them.
- Go Higher West Yorkshire is a partnership of 13 Higher Education (HE) providers, working collaboratively to reduce long-standing inequalities in access to, success in and progression from HE. GHWY was formed in 2010 and is hosted by the University of Leeds. We are impartial, not promoting any HE provider or course. Working with groups underrepresented in HE, we strive to overcome all barriers, misinformation and uncertainty concerning HE and to ensure people make confident and informed HE choices. We support educators and influencers help people into Higher Education, and by improving young people’s employability skills, help inspire a more high-skilled workforce.
Parent Power supports parents and carers to develop skills in community organising and advice and guidance on accessing higher education, empowering them to make change to support their children’s future and ensure their they have a fair chance in education and their future careers.
Working with us, the Community Organiser will:
- Support local pupils from underrepresented backgrounds by empowering their parent/carers to become higher education experts
- Receive community organising training from Citizens UK and develop transferable skills
- Join a nationwide community of community organisers making a significant impact on university access
Person specification
Time and Resource Management:
Essential
- Able to plan sessions in an organised and efficient manner and adhere to agreed deadlines.
- Excellent timekeeper, ensuring prompt arrival to meetings and 1-1s; well organised within 1-1s and sessions.
- Capable of adapting quickly to new systems/ processes.
Desirable:
- Confident in using digital systems for delivery of online sessions in parent meetings
- Experience of creating resources
External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management:
Essential
- Ability to work in a way that promotes the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
- Professional approach to problem solving with a range of stakeholders involved in the project.
- Awareness of role as a visitor within a school and parent/carer community; understanding of the other commitments held by professionals within a school and by parent/carers
- Understanding of The Brilliant Club mission and the Widening Participation agenda nationally.
Desirable
- Prior experience of community-focused work or hold a qualification at Level 4 or above (as listed here)
- Understanding of the barriers young people face to university access and some of the ways these might be overcome.
- Understanding of the current climate in the UK school system and some of the challenges young people and parent/carers might be facing.
Communication:
Essential
- Awareness of how to engage parents and adapt university style learning for a school setting.
- Able to communicate in a timely and professional way with all project stakeholders
- Able to take a relational approach to communication with parent/carers, especially in 1-1s
- Able to explain research accessibly to non-expert audiences
Reflectiveness
Essential
- Able to identify strengths and areas of development, open to feedback.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Location: Homebased – Yorkshire & North-East
Hours: 14 hours per week (Thursday & Friday)
Contract - Permanent - Part-Time
Salary: £10,395.60 per annum + £300 per annum homeworking allowance
As a ‘not for profit’ organisation, TACT puts the needs of our children and carers first and look to appoint individuals who are as passionate about fostering as we are. TACT invests all surplus income into staff, carers, and child development. This means that we have been able to establish expert in-house support services such as our TACT Health and Education Services and create TACT Connect, our ground-breaking scheme for care-experienced young people and adults. New staff will join us as we embark on a journey to become a wholly trauma-informed organisation with the aim of increasing our effectiveness and improving outcomes for the children and young people in our care.
We pride ourselves on our flexible working opportunities, an extensive wellbeing programme, and our benefits package, all curated to support a healthy work-life balance for all our staff. We will also invest in your learning, supporting you to grow and develop during your employment with TACT. You will be encouraged to attend personal and professional development opportunities and will have access to learning and resources to empower you to advance your knowledge and skills.
We are currently the 4th Best Charity to work for and the 16th Best Mid-Sized Company in the UK according to The Best Companies criteria and our survey results have evidenced “outstanding” levels of engagement amongst staff in recent years. You can view our Best Companies summary video here.
We are looking for a dynamic, enthusiastic and highly motivated individual with experience in administration within the social care field to work with us as a Family Finding Worker. This role is home-based, and it will cover placements for our Yorkshire & North-East areas.
The Family Finding Worker is responsible for receiving placement requests for children who need to be looked after and matching them to our foster carer in cooperation with the Duty Social Worker. The role requires exceptional communication skills and discretion, sensitivity and the capability to deal with conflicting priorities at times.
In this role, you will be responsible for…
- Processing referrals received from the Local Authority requesting a place for a child
- Building and maintaining positive relationships with Local Authority Placement Teams
- Liaising with appropriate parties regarding discussion of potential matches
- Reviewing sensitive and confidential documents
- Establishing professional relationships with colleagues, carers, and the children they look after to ensure the best outcomes for the children and young people in our care
You will be suited to this role if you have…
- Experience in a social care & health setting
- Experience of working with children/young people
- Knowledge of current safeguarding procedures.
- Excellent communication skills
- The ability to build a rapport and a positive working relationship with external partners.
Please see the Job Information Pack and Job Description for further information.
TACT Yorkshire and North East team are also currently recruiting for a part-time (21 hours per week) Children and Young People's Wellbeing Practitioner role, which is advertised separately. We would welcome applications from candidates who feel able to meet the requirements of both posts and would be interested in full-time employment (35 hours per week) with a combined role comprising both posts. Any applicants interested in combining both roles will need to be based within the North East region, in order to meet the travel requirements of the Wellbeing Practitioner role.
A standard DBS clearance is required for this role, which TACT will undertake on your behalf.
- Closing Date: Friday, 26 April 2024
- Interview Date: Thursday, 9th May 2024 (via Microsoft Teams)
Safeguarding is everyone’s business and TACT believes that only the people with the right skills and values should work in social work. As part of TACT’s commitment to safeguarding, we properly examine the skills, experience, qualifications, and values of potential staff in relation to our work with vulnerable young children. We use rigorous and consistent recruitment approaches to help safeguard TACT’s young people. All our staff are expected to work in line with TACT’s safeguarding policies.
TACT does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
TACT reserves the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.