Children Services Team Leader - Buckinghamshire

Location: Across Buckinghamshire and surrounding areas

Salary: £24,000 per annum

Contract: 2 x Permanent Full-Time

Hours: 37 hours per week

What we do:

Action for Children run the local service Bucks Activity Project, providing county-wide play and leisure activities for children and young people with disabilities and learning needs, aged 0-19.

We build positive relationships with families and work with professionals to ensure we support each child to acquire the best outcomes. Our services take place in different parts of Buckinghamshire, including High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Amersham, Princes Risborough and Buckingham to name a few, to ensure we meet the needs of all the children and young people, so you may be supporting a group of children at a swimming activity or climbing high ropes one day and the next day leading a venue based session such as playschemes which include team games, arts and crafts, messy play, baking, role play and lots of fun.

About the role:

Are you ambitious about making a positive difference to children's lives? As a Children Services Team Leader, you will lead and work inside a team of staff supporting Children and Young People with disabilities to reach their potential across multiple areas of their day to day life.

The Team Leader role includes creating engaging, fun and informative learning opportunities, helping the children and young people make excellent progress and meet the requirements of Ofsted in our sessions and activities for children in Early Years. For children and young people aged 8-19 you will be leading groups to take part in out and about activities such as swimming, cinema trips, Go Ape, bowling, and farm visits to name a few and venue based sessions where young people can socialise with others and learn new skills. Children attend the most appropriate setting or environment that best meets their needs. You will lead and plan engaging activities to meet each of the children's needs, keeping accurate records and regularly communicating with parents and carers.

Our Team Leaders take responsibility for the safety, care and engagement of the children and young people while supporting the staff team to achieve this. You will be capable of and have experience of planning, organising and delivering sessions, creating care plans & completing risk assessments within health & safety guidelines.

All our Team Leaders will work a full day on either Saturday or Sunday with one to two evening shifts a week. This role is 50% activity delivery and 50% admin so all we ask is that you are willing and able to get fully immersed with the activities and with the children and young people and be prepared to join in the fun! Having knowledge and understanding of working with children with disabilities is beneficial

You will do this by:

Planning the running of sessions whether they are venue based that involve participation in arts and crafts, cooking, construction toys, outdoor games and reading books or out in the community accessing appropriate activities
Showing leadership qualities within your team and being an excellent role model
Manage the day to day running of sessions and challenges that may arise, including accessibility to activities, managing of the staff team, leading the team to support the children appropriately
Assess, promote and measure outcomes of physical and social development alongside communication and imaginative growth.
Carrying out personal care, feeding and administering medication

Please see our attached leaflet for more information. You can also click on the following links for more information about us……. See for yourself how fun and rewarding it is to work for Bucks Activity Project;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0wFIg9OOwM

https://services.actionforchildren.org.uk/bucks-activity-project/

What will you need?

Level 3 Early Years and Childcare qualification (NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and Education) (Desirable) or another relevant Level 3 qualification or be willing to study for one
Experience of working in a childcare or education setting
Knowledge of safeguarding
Experience and knowledge of working with children with disabilities (Desirable)
Experience of leading a team and children
Excellent communication skills
Ability to create support plans and identify key information that is relevant to share with the team
Ability to take ownership, build trust and show respect for others
Ability to multi-task and work flexibly
Good MS Office and admin skills
Access to own transport and willingness to travel to local services and group activities across Buckinghamshire

How we reward you:

We have a first rate employee benefit package including but not restricted to;

Competitive salary - based on defined job roles and grades.
Excellent paid holiday allowance- minimum 29 days plus additional public/bank holidays
We support you and welcoming new additions to your family - flexible maternity, adoption and paternity packages
We have a contribution scheme that matches a maximum of 7% employee and 7% employer contributions which includes a death in service benefit.

This is a current and live role and we shall be progressing as normal with our recruitment for this position. To comply with social distancing, we intend to interview remotely for the time being. Details will be discussed with applicants who progress to interview stage.

For more information on this opportunity please contact recruitmentservice@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 3737

Guidant is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.