Children Services Team Leader

We are looking for a Children Services Team Leader to join our team.

About Action for Children:

At Action for Children, we believe that every child should have a safe and happy childhood. We're committed to ensuring that every child is given the opportunity to thrive. We protect and support vulnerable children, young people and their families by giving them the practical and emotional care and support they need. Last year, we helped more than 600,000 children and families across the UK. We work to ensure their voices are heard, and campaign to bring lasting change to their lives.

Bucks Activity Project is part of the Action for Children Countywide Integrated Short Breaks Service, commissioned by Buckinghamshire Council and provides community short breaks to children and young people aged 0-19 with disabilities and additional learning needs across Buckinghamshire with over 250 children currently registered.

For our Under 5's we offer Ofsted registered play sessions with activities tailored to support children's interests and learning following the Early Years Foundation Stage and all services are currently awarded ‘Good' by Ofsted.

For those children attending full time school we offer weekend and school holiday activities which include arts and crafts, cooking, music, outdoor play and sensory play.

Children and young people aged 8-19 can access activities at weekends, evenings and school holidays including our youth clubs, movie nights, cooking, quiz nights, swimming, bowling, cinema, go-carting, water sports, climbing, ice skating, farm visits, scavenger hunts and woodland walks to name a few.

What you'll be doing:

In the role of Children's Services Team Leader, will be working in a service that provides Short Breaks that have positive benefits for children and young people with disabilities and their parents and carers. You will give children and young people time away from their family so they can develop independence, learn new skills, make friends and reduce loneliness whilst giving parents and carers a break from their caring responsibilities and providing time to spend with other children in the family.

You will be providing a high standard of physical, emotional, social and intellectual care, working as part of a team to provide an enabling environment and to build strong parent partnerships to enable all children's needs to be met.

You'll do this by:

-Leading and working inside a team supporting children and young people to reach their potential, across multiple areas of day to day lives.
-Focusing on meeting social, emotional, health and personal care needs for all of our service users.
-Leading on activities such as arts and crafts, cooking, leisurely visits, physical and imaginative play, outdoor games & sensory play.
-Taking responsibility for the safety, care and engagement of the children and young people and build positive relationships with families and professional colleagues to ensure each child is supported to achieve the best outcomes.

What we need from you:

-To look after our Early Years children you will need to hold a relevant Level 3 Early Years childcare qualification or willing to undertake an apprenticeship funded totally by us.

-To look after our older children you will need to hold a relevant qualification in youth work, children's services, or education, or be willing to study for and complete an apprenticeship, funded totally by us.
-Have experience of working in children's services and have knowledge of disabilities.
-Ability work a full day on either Saturday or Sunday with one evening shift a week with work patterns pre-agreed.
-Experience in leading a team or children and be able to demonstrate leadership qualities.
-Access to a car as county-wide travel can be regular.

Working here is so much more than a job. Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you.

We work together to reach our vision of safe and happy childhoods. Given this and how having a diverse workforce enriches the lives of the children and young people we work with we are committed to Diversity and Inclusion and welcome applications from everyone. We value and celebrate the diversity of those that work with us and as an inclusive workplace we want all our current and future staff to feel able to be themselves in the workplace.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

Good luck! We can't wait to hear from you.

Application process: There are 5 sections for you to complete, Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the JD and Person Specification when applying. We want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families.

Talent pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But, feel free to let us know if you'd rather we didn't do that.

If you need support with your application, please contact Sarah Manderfield on 01923 361743 or email sarah.manderfield@actionforchildren.org.uk. Who will be happy to give you any support you require.

Contract/ Hours: Permanent Full Time 37 Hours a week - Evening & weekend work will be required.

Typical shift patterns could be 9am to 5pm or 12.30pm to 9pm Monday to Friday and one weekend day Saturday or Sunday 8.45 am to 5.15pm (on a rota)

Perks: Annual leave of 29 days (pro-rata) PLUS public holidays, flexible maternity, adoption and paternity packages, annual staff awards, up to 7% employer contribution pension scheme, employee discount portal with all your favourite brands, check out more on our careers portal.

Location: Aylesbury High Wycombe and surrounding areas.

Closing date: 28th June. We may stop taking applications earlier than advertised, due to the volume of applications we receive. So, don't delay submitting your application for consideration!