National schools programme manager jobs
36 hours per week / £36,530 per annum pro rata / permanent / working two days onsite and three days from home, working pattern to be discussed at interview
At YMCA DownsLink Group, our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, building life skills and self-confidence, and supporting emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Our Values - we do what’s right, we work with heart, and we build real connections - guide and shape how we show up for children and young people we support and for each other.
Brighton & Hove Wellbeing service is delivered by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with YMCA DownsLink Group. We offer a variety of support including counselling and psychological therapies to children and young people within Brighton and Hove.
We are looking for a compassionate and experienced Wellbeing Children & Young People's (CYP) Lead to support and shape our therapeutic services for young people in Brighton and Hove.
Overview of key areas of responsibility:
Leadership
- Provide line management support and supervision to wellbeing workers (e.g. counsellors, practitioners, therapists, link workers and trainees).
- Work alongside a team of leads to support the running, development and management of the service.
- Lead induction, mentoring, and training of new staff, trainees, and volunteers.
- Foster a culture of learning, innovation, and continuous improvement across the team.
Core Clinical
- Carry out individual counselling assessments of children and young people and make appropriate referrals.
- Provide guidance and oversight for complex or high-risk cases.
- Ensure all interventions are evidence-based, child-centred, and trauma-informed.
- Develop and oversee counselling protocols, therapeutic pathways, and risk assessment frameworks.
Safeguarding and Risk
- Lead and give oversight for safeguarding concerns, embedding a safeguarding-first culture across the service.
- Work to ensure all counsellors, staff, and volunteers are trained, confident, and compliant in safeguarding practice.
- Implement robust risk assessment and management processes.
- Monitor safeguarding incidents, identify themes, and strengthen safeguarding practice.
- Liaise with schools, health, social care, police, and other agencies in safeguarding matters.
Service Development
- Work with the Service Manager, Leads and Clinical Leads to strengthen and expand counselling provision, including group work.
- Triage referrals and represent the service in multi-agency triage meetings.
- Promote and develop opportunities for community participation and youth voice in service design.
- Build strong relationships with schools, health services, local authorities, commissioners, and community partners.
- Represent the service at local and regional forums, influencing CYP wellbeing strategies.
Qualifications, knowledge, and experience
- More than 2 years post-qualified at graduate or post graduate level Counselling Diploma or equivalent [of two years minimum duration including personal counselling or psychotherapy].
- BACP Registration or Accreditation and/or eligible for other Professional Accreditation e.g. UKCP/HPC.
- Strong team-management and line-management experience is required, including demonstrated experience in supervising, developing, and supporting staff.
- An in depth understanding of counselling theory and practice and working to short-term models.
- A sound understanding of child developmental processes, Child Protection and Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding issues and procedures, along with proven experience in safeguarding young children.
- Solid experience in delivering counselling and assessment, along with experience with high-risk/complex cases.
- Experience of multi-disciplinary team working, with the ability to work within time-limited frameworks.
CLOSING DATE: Sunday 11 January 2026 at midnight. Proposed interview date Thursday 15 January.
Please note that we are unable to offer a work permit or visa sponsorship for this role; applicants must already have the right to live and work in the UK independently.
An inclusive workplace We are committed to policies and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion and to supporting our people to make sure our culture is consistent with this commitment.
Accessibility If you require assistance or have questions regarding the application process, please do contact us.
YMCA DLG requires all staff and volunteers to be committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and to respond proactively to safeguarding concerns.
Successful applicants will undergo a thorough background screening process, conducted by an accredited third-party provider. This includes an Enhanced DBS check (with Children’s and Adults’ Barred Lists) as well as comprehensive reference and activity checks.
Our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be.

The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
About Us
Harris Academy Battersea is a mixed state secondary school serving a truly comprehensive community in the heart of London. We are an Ofsted ‘Outstanding' school with a track record of delivering fantastic outcomes year on year for our students. In 2023, Ofsted visited the academy and judged us as remaining ‘outstanding', commenting on our “highly ambitious curriculum”, the “exceptionally high quality of education” provided and noted that “behaviour in the school is very strong”. Nevertheless, we are extremely ambitious for our school and as we seek to continue to grow and develop, we are looking for more brilliant people to join us.
Our Academy is centred on the values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience and these underpin the way we work for both students and staff. Our staff are inclusive, diverse and committed to our mission: we develop aspirational young people to thrive in a changing world.
HABS offers a broad, academic and challenging curriculum founded on six key curriculum aims:
- To develop deep, long-lasting knowledge
- To develop students into accomplished readers, writers and orators
- To provide experiences within and beyond the classroom that enrich learning and ensure students can make informed choices about their futures
- To equip students to challenge injustice in all its forms
- To enable students to understand how they learn
- To support students to reflect on their choices and values to improve themselves and their community
These aims underpin all elements of our curriculum, and we see our core academic curriculum and wider personal development curriculum as intrinsically linked. All staff at the Academy contribute to the personal development of our students through their roles as tutors and through their contributions to the wider life of the academy.
A thriving school can only function with fantastic staff, and our vision is to make teaching at HABS both enjoyable and sustainable. The wellbeing of staff underpins every decision we make, and we seek to ensure that every member of staff can enjoy a work-life-balance enabling them to bring their best to work each day.
At HABS, professional growth and development is central to our mission. Our professional development motto is ‘improve, not prove' and leaders are relentlessly focussed on supporting staff in getting even better through a wide range of internal and external training opportunities.
As a part of the Harris Federation, all staff in the Academy benefit from being part of our network of more than fifty primary and secondary academies across London. Vibrant networks of subject experts meet regularly and teachers can access bespoke support from our central teams of consultants.
For more information about what we do and who we are, we encourage you to visit our website here as well as our careers page here and explore!
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Summary
We are currently looking to appoint a Home Academy Liaison Officer (HALO) to oversee educational welfare across the academy.
At Harris Academy Battsersea, you will join a dedicated team of staff supporting our excellent students. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow, inspire and develop, this may be the role for you.
The actual salary for this role will be £29,641-£30,516 (39 weeks per year, 37.5 hours per week)
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Main Areas of Responsibility
Your responsibilities will include:
- Overseeing Educational Welfare across the academy.
- Managing a caseload of ‘at risk’ students, where attendance falls below 85% and implement strategies to improve attendance
- Monitoring and improving the attendance of most vulnerable students
- Ensuring compliance with statutory duties, including reporting persistent and severe absenteeism
- Conducting home visits to engage families and address barriers to school attendance
- Maintaining accurate attendance records and preparing reports
- Representing the academy at external meetings e.g. Social Services Case Conferences, Child in Need Meetings, LAC Reviews
- Communicating effectively with all external agencies including possible alternative providers
- Ensuring effective communication/consultation as appropriate with the parents of students
- Leading on legal interventions for non-attendance where necessary
- Co-ordinating appropriate and tailored alternative provision for students unable to thrive in mainstream education
- Supporting the school’s inclusion strategy
- Maintaining the alternative provision tracker and monitoring student progress
- Building and maintaining partnerships with external providers, agencies, and support networks
- Ensuring safeguarding and health and safety standards in alternative provision settings
- Acting as a liaison between the academy, external providers, students, and families to ensure seamless support and transition to alternative placemen
- Ensuring compliance with local and national policies related to alternative provision. as well as safeguarding protocols
- Regularly reviewing alternative provision placements and providing feedback to stakeholders.
- Maintaining confidential records of support
- Preparing of reports and maintaining records relating to student referrals and subsequent counselling or support
- Providing support to the attendance team
- Providing administrative support to coordinate internal seclusion
Qualifications & Experience
We would like to hear from you have:
- Qualifications to degree level or equivalent
- Knowledge of behaviour for learning policies
- Knowledge of the range of barriers to learning that students face
- Training in child protection and safeguarding procedures
- Basic knowledge of first aid (e.g. emergency first aid course)
- At least three years’ experience of working in an inner city school or educational establishment in a pastoral capacity
- Experience of dealing successfully with a range of issues influencing poor attendance
- Experience of working with staff to ensure excellent standards of attendance and punctuality
- Experience of working with families
- Experience of working with challenging students and parents, and finding ways in which we can meet their needs more successfully
For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.
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Professional Development & Benefits
Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.
In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits. Learn more about on our website.
Safeguarding Notice
The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.
Equal Opportunities
The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.
We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.
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Next Steps
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation.
Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.
Senior Practitioner Family Support
We are looking for a Senior Practitioner to join the team providing early years and family support for children aged 0–19 (or 25 with SEND).
Position: Senior Practitioner – Family Support
Location: Dyson Gardens Children’s Centre, Highfield Rd, Birmingham B8 3QF
Salary: £31,879.51
Hours: 37 per week
Contract: Permanent
Closing Date: 11/01/2026
You will be working for one of the UK's leading children's charities, firmly supported by Christian beliefs and values, helping to support disadvantaged children and their families through delivering projects to support children, young people, their families, and communities to find long-lasting solutions to the challenges they face.
The Role
As part of the Birmingham Forward Steps Partnership, the team provide early years and family support for children aged 0–19 (or 25 with SEND). The Children’s Centres and Family Hubs across Erdington, Hodge Hill, Perry Barr and Sutton Coldfield offer safe, welcoming spaces where families can access support, advice, and activities. From parenting groups and sensory rooms to health referrals and stay-and-play sessions, the experienced teams walk alongside families, helping them build on their strengths and navigate challenges. The organisations also offers links to childcare, midwifery, and employment support. Whether face-to-face or through the Digital Family Hub, everything we do is driven by compassion, fairness, and a commitment to children’s wellbeing.
Key areas of responsibility include:
- Lead and manage the Family Support team to deliver effective support for families with children aged 0–19 (with a 0–5 primary focus).
- Act as Designated Safeguarding Lead, overseeing safeguarding practice, training and compliance.
- Ensure high-quality assessments, planning and delivery of 1-1 and group interventions.
- Provide reflective supervision, annual appraisals and support staff to develop their skills and confidence.
- Oversee adherence to Health & Safety, including Lone Working and safe home-visiting practice.
- Build strong multi-agency partnerships to achieve positive, sustained outcomes for families.
- Lead engagement strategies to reach and support hard-to-reach families.
- Ensure robust data quality, case recording, and preparation for audits and inspections (e.g., Ofsted, safeguarding audits).
Join the team and help make a difference where it matters most.
About You
We are looking for someone with:
- A NVQ Level 3 in Childcare, Health, Social Care or related field.
- Leadership experience, supervising, supporting and motivating staff.
- Experience in early intervention with vulnerable families, including assessments, home visits and group facilitation.
- Strong safeguarding knowledge and experience managing safeguarding concerns.
- Experience engaging hard to reach families and delivering evidence based family support programmes.
- Strong multi agency partnership working skills.
- Ability to maintain high quality case files, data records and monitoring information.
About the Organisation
An innovative leading children's charity delivering projects to support disadvantaged children, young people, their families, and communities, working with a range of partners to provide creative solutions including children and family centres, school counselling, preschool nurseries, family support and children affected by imprisonment and offending.
Benefits include:
- Continuous professional development
- In house learning platform
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Salary sacrifice pension with employers contribution of up to 7%
- Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
- BHFS Health Cash Plan
- Life assurance 2 times annual salary
- Enhanced annual leave
- Additional paid time off at Christmas
- Flu vouchers
- Eye test reclaim
The charity is committed to making a positive impact, and we're looking for someone like you. If you're ready to take the next step in your fundraising career and make a lasting difference in the lives of those who need it most, we invite you to apply and be part of the team.
We actively encourage applications from a broad and deep range of backgrounds and experiences. This post is subject to necessary safeguarding checks including an appropriate level DBS Disclosure. The organisation is a Living Wage Employer.
Other roles you may have experience with could include Family Support, Child Support, Community, Family Support Practitioner, Child Support Practitioner, Community Practitioner, Social Care, Childcare, Children, Health Worker, Family Support Worker, Child Support Worker. #INDNFP
PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation.
Job Title: Associate Advocate
Service: Coram Voice
Contract Type: Freelance
Hours: Freelance
Salary: £16.00 per professional hour; £12.00 per hour travel time; £0.45 per mile for mileage
Location: Home based with travel to the locations of children and young people accessing Coram Voice’s services. We are looking for Associate Advocates able to travel to locations across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole, and adjacent areas.
About Coram:
Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.
We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.
Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.
About Coram Voice:
Coram Voice is a national independent children’s charity established in 1975 and has grown to become one of the leading organisations for children and young people in the UK.
Coram Voice exists to enable and equip children and young people to hold systems to account, to challenge and support them to do their jobs properly and to uphold the rights of children and young people to actively participate in shaping their own lives.
Coram Voice strives for a society which recognises, and willingly accepts, its responsibilities to children and young people, where the inequalities and discrimination they currently face have been eradicated. Where those children and young people are fully engaged in all decisions that are made about their lives. Where the views, needs and feelings that they express are at the core of those decisions.
Our Advocacy services we provide advocacy direct to children and young people in a variety of situations. Advocates around the country support children and young people to get their voice heard in decisions about their lives. This may be through the telephone helpline or through an advocate working directly with a child, for instance, to support them at a review meeting or to help them make a complaint about their care. Coram Voice provides visiting advocacy services to most of the secure units nationally, to Secure Training Centres, Young Offender Institutions, psychiatric hospitals, residential special schools and children’s homes.
About the Role
You will work directly with care experienced children and young people and those who are involved in Child Protection processes. You will provide advocacy in the way that the child or young person prefers, which may include face to face support in the community and remote advocacy via phone or Teams.
You will empower and support them to ensure their voices are heard within decision–making processes that affect their lives.
You will be a capable ambassador for Coram Voice with the ability to engage effectively with professionals, carers, other stakeholders and, most importantly, children and young people.
If you have the necessary experience and skills, and a commitment to promoting the rights of young people, we would like to hear from you.
Recruitment process
Shortlisting will be undertaken by our Children’s Rights Managers. Successful candidates will then be invited for interview. The interview process comprises a written exercise and a panel interview. Successful candidates will have a further one to one interview in accordance with Warner recommendations. Internal candidates will need to notify HR of their interest in the post and they will provide further information on the internal application process.
Returning your application:
- We cannot accept general CVs.
- When completing your application form, you need to address each point of the person specification and demonstrate how you meet it.
- Applications must be fully completed.
Closing date: Accepting applications on a rolling basis until 1st January 2026
Interview date: TBC
General consideration for applications:
- DBS checks: all posts are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check.
- Training: All successful candidates are required to complete our compulsory training programme which includes training in Advocacy (Advocacy in Action), Safeguarding and EDI.
- Self-employed status: Associate Advocates are self-employed members of the Coram Voice team. Associates will be required to work using their own secure phone and laptop. They are also responsible for maintaining insurance to cover their work. Our HR team can advise further on this.
- Conflict of interest: the independence of the service is important to Coram Voice. Prospective applicants need to raise any other potential conflicts of interest when initially contacting Coram Voice about this post.
Coram Voice is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We actively encourage applicants from Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds to join our teams. Whilst we have a diverse team we recognise we are a predominantly white workforce and are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from diverse communities in order to improve the services to the children and families we help.
We are committed to the safeguarding of children and will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Registered Charity No. 312278.
We are a leading children’s rights organisation. We champion the rights of children and get young voices heard in decisions that matter to them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Reports To: Head of Frontline Services
Hours: 12 hours per week (flexible but should include attendance at fortnightly Monday morning team meetings in Harrow). There may be opportunity to expand hours if desired.
Location: [Hybrid: Harrow team meetings /West London Community – which could span Hounslow, Hammersmith, Harrow, Barnet, Ealing, Brent/Online/Telephone]
Our head office is currently in Croxley, Watford and team meetings may move to this location. You need to be able to travel to this location as part of the role.
Salary - £34,320 pro rata
The Violence Intervention Project (V.I.P) is a young Charity (founded in 2017), pioneering new approaches to working with young people (YP) involved in serious youth violence (SYV). Through a combination of practical and therapeutically informed practice, we support YP, their families and communities to live safer lives. Today, The V.I.P. supports more than 50 YP and families across the London Boroughs of RBKC, H&F, Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon. As an organisation with a therapeutic ethos at the heart of our practice, we prioritise the care and wellbeing of our employees. As a result, we have an incredible team and strong employee engagement backed by clinical supervision, a Board of Trustees and a Leadership Team who support and promote personal care and professional development. It’s because of our unique working culture that we’re able to meet the serious challenges and demands of our work.
At the V.I.P we aim to be a thought leader in our sector. To date we’ve established strong ties with the Anna Freud Centre along with funding from the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit. All our operations are framed within a public health approach and built on the fundamental belief that shame is a catalyst for violence; to which relationships are the antidote.
Our innovation, passion and principles have translated into a strong reputation and sustained expansion across West London. Our practice model, Urban Therapy, meets young people where they are — in cafes, parks, and community spaces. We also deliver early intervention programmes in schools and lead The Shame Initiative, our national training and consultancy offer for frontline practitioners.
All our posts are subject to an Enhanced DBS disclosure as well as a full employment history and two employment references. We are committed to equal opportunities in employment and service delivery and we welcome applications from all sections of the community.
Job Purpose: The Family Outreach worker plays a vital role in supporting the families of clients to enhance their stability, wellbeing, and access to essential services. In this role, the Family Outreach worker will provide personalised assistance to families, strengthen connections with external partners and community resources, and collaborate with the team to ensure comprehensive and cohesive support. Additionally, they will establish structured communication and availability protocols to manage expectations and promote sustainable assistance for families.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Develop and Implement Family Support Plans § Caseload Management: Maintain a focused caseload of 4–5 families at a time, ensuring each receives consistent, high-quality support § Care Plan Development: Co-design and implement personalised support plans with families, focused on clear, achievable goals, addressing unique needs such as housing support, access to services, and emotional and practical assistance. § Outcome Tracking: Regularly assess and monitor family progress, aiming for high satisfaction and meaningful, positive outcomes. § Ensure all work complies with safeguarding and confidentiality policies and promptly escalate any concerns regarding the welfare of children or vulnerable adults.
2. Build and Strengthen External Partnerships and Professional Networks § Networking and Outreach: Dedicate time each month to building relationships with key external partners, such as housing providers, domestic violence services, cultural support groups, and other community organisations. § Professional Network Integration: Actively collaborate with members of each family’s professional network (e.g. healthcare providers, educators, social services) to ensure aligned and effective support. § Partnership Development: Identify service gaps and cultivate partnerships with external agencies to broaden the range of resources available for families, especially during crises or complex situations. § Crisis and Complex Needs Support: Utilize professional connections to extend the support network available to families, enhancing their access to comprehensive care.
3. Foster Team Collaboration and Communication § Team Meetings and Case Discussions: Participate in regular team discussions to align family support strategies and incorporate team insights into care plans. § Documentation and Information Sharing: Maintain detailed documentation on family interactions, progress, and needs to facilitate informed team coordination. § Collaborative Problem Solving: Leverage the collective expertise of the team to address complex family needs and ensure proactive, cohesive support.
4. Develop Clear Communication and Availability Protocols § Service Model Communication: Communicate service guidelines, availability expectations, and emergency protocols to families to promote mutual understanding and prevent miscommunication. § Feedback-Driven Adjustments: Regularly gather and assess feedback from families to adjust communication protocols and improve service effectiveness.
5. Ongoing Monitoring, Review, and Professional Development § Role and Service Review: Schedule regular check-ins with management to assess role effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. § Feedback Collection and Analysis: Collect feedback from families and professional network contacts to maintain high-quality service standards and align with organisational objectives. § Professional Growth: Engage in professional development opportunities to continually refine and align your approach with the organisation’s mission, vision, and evolving community needs. Key Requirements: § Experience in Family Support or Community Outreach: Proven background in social work, family support, or community engagement, with an ability to manage complex family cases. § Strong Communication and Network-Building Skills: Effective communicator able to engage with families, team members, external partners, and professional networks, ensuring cohesive, high-quality support. § Empathy and Professionalism: Commitment to providing respectful, empathetic support to families, balanced with clear professional boundaries. § Organisational Skills: Ability to manage multiple cases, maintain thorough documentation, and adhere to Urban Therapy protocols to ensure high-quality, consistent service.
Key skills and qualities: · Flexibility and adaptability · Trust building · Advocacy skills · Crisis Intervention skills · Resilience · Active Listening · Solution Focused · Ethical practitioner
Urban Therapy is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, and encourages applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences.
This role may evolve as community needs develop; the Family Outreach Worker will contribute to shaping the service model over time.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.