Residential Night Childcare Worker - High Trees

High Trees is an 'Outstanding' Ofsted-rated home. Our home is small and inviting and we look after the individual needs of children with severe and complex learning disabilities and their families.

Our dedicated and skilled staff team are keen to ensure that children who stay with us, whether full time or for short breaks, feel at home and feel safe, have many opportunities for both fun and learning and reach their full potential in a range of creative ways.

We are ideally located in a lovely area, with a large, open garden with a patio area and are very much a part of the community. Watch our staff story video here on: Residential Night Childcare Worker

Salary: £26,964 - £27,385 per annum includes Crawley Weighting Allowance (£14,832 -£15,060 pro rata), with additional unsociable hours and sleep-in payments.
Working Pattern: Part time – 20 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Location: Crawley

Children’s Residential Recruitment and Retention Payment scheme - £1500 during your first 18 months

To support recruitment into this vital area West Sussex County Council offer £1,500 during the employee’s first 18 months where they are recruited to a new permanent role which is identified as hard to recruit and remain in the County Council’s employment during this time.

The scheme consists of two payments: £500 after successful completion of 6 months employment (including successful completion of probation where relevant) and £1,000 after 18 months

As a Night Childcare Worker, you will ensure that all children’s and young people’s physical and emotional night care needs are met. This may include managing challenging behaviour, providing emotional support when needed, supporting children with curfew and they return safely if out in the community. The support given enables our children and young people to maintain and improve their skills and daily lives in line with individual care plans. Additionally, you will be responsible for report writing, nightly checks and household chores when required.

There are many challenges, but we support each other to overcome these and work closely with many other professionals too. This enables us to continue to provide the high quality of care to our children, in a homely and caring environment.

Some of the key skills and experience required for the role are:

• Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or equivalent. If you do not have this, the service will support you to complete this qualification; you must achieve this within two years of appointment as it is a statutory requirement of this post.
• Sound communication and interpersonal skills to a range of children and families.
• Ability to promote and encourage a multi-agency approach to support the child.
• Ability to use initiative to resolve problems within given parameters.
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise work.
• Ability to work as part of a team around a child.
• Good standard of literacy e.g. ability to write reports around individuals and significant incidents, with a Grade C or above (4-9) in GCSE or equivalent qualification in English. If you do not hold this, you will need to apply for English Functional Skills before being considered for this role. You can find out more about gaining an English Functional Skills on the Government website Improve your English, Maths and IT Skills.

Please be advised you are required to bring certificates for English and any Childcare qualifications you hold.

For the full list of experience, qualification and key skills required please review the attached job description below.

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of between 25 and 31 days, depending on your job and length of service
• a range of discounts on groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and more
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• training and development opportunities
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans
• a salary finance scheme to help staff with financial wellbeing, offering hints and tips on managing money, guides for budgeting, saving and managing debt and low interest loans

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05911 .

For an informal conversation or further information regarding the role, please contact one of the following people;

Ben Arnold (Registered Manager) [email protected]

Charlotte Blandford (Resourcing Specialist) [email protected]

To apply, upload your CV and cover letter, explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role, ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and an occupational health check. A fully employment history will be requested and covered for this role.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!