About the role
Do you have a passion for helping disabled children and young people have fun, build confidence and achieve their potential? Are you a caring, enthusiastic and motivated person who wants to make a real difference in a child's life? Whether you're looking to start a career in social care or build on your existing experience, we'd love to hear from you.
We are currently recruiting Relief Residential Support Workers to join our teams at Woodland Lodge in Huntingdon and Haviland Way in Cambridge.
About our Residential Services...
Our homes support children and young people aged 8-18 with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, complex health care and behaviour support.
We provide overnight short breaks, Shared Care and Long Term Care, giving children and young people opportunities to have fun, make friends, develop independence and enjoy new experiences in a safe and supportive environment.
No two days are the same. One day you may be supporting a young person to build life skills and independence at home, and the next you could be supporting them to access their local community and fun activities.
Our aim is simple: to help every child and young person thrive, have fun and achieve their full potential.
"The staff always make me smile and help me try new things."
- Young Person
About you...
You will be:
- Passionate about supporting children and young people to achieve positive outcomes
- Caring, reliable and able to build positive relationships
- Confident working both independently and as part of a team
- Able to encourage independence, choice and communication
- Comfortable supporting children and young people with personal care and health needs
- Understanding of the importance of safeguarding, dignity and respect
- Understanding of positive behaviour support principles
- Able to communicate effectively with children, families, colleagues and professionals
- Confident using basic IT systems, including Outlook, Word and electronic recording systems
- Positive, flexible and willing to learn
Experience of supporting children, young people or adults with disabilities is beneficial, but equally important is your enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to make a difference.
What will you be doing?
As a Relief Assistant Residential Support Worker, you will:
- Support children and young people during their stay within the home
- Create a safe, welcoming and fun environment where young people can enjoy new experiences
- Encourage participation in activities both within the home and out in the community
- Support personal care, medication administration and safeguarding procedures in line with individual care and safety plans
- Promote independence and develop life skills appropriate to each young person's needs
- Advocate for children and young people to ensure their voices are heard
- Record observations and maintain accurate records
- Work closely with families, social workers, education professionals and health colleagues to provide quality care and person-centred support
Working Pattern
The service operates across a variety of shifts, including:
- Early shifts: 7.00am - 3.00pm
- Late shifts: 2.00pm - 10.00pm
As a casual member of staff, you'll have the flexibility to work around your availability while supporting a service that makes a real difference.
What we can offer you...
- Flexible work opportunities
- Comprehensive induction and training programme
- Ongoing learning and development opportunities
- Support to achieve qualifications in Children and Young People's Residential Care
- Regular supervision and career development support
- A friendly, supportive and experienced team
- The opportunity to build a rewarding career within Children's Services
"Knowing you've helped a young person gain confidence and enjoy experiences they may not otherwise have had is incredibly rewarding."
- Residential Support Worker
We'd love you to get in touch and find out more about the role and our services.
For an informal conversation, please call 01480 379800.
Before you apply...
Please ensure that you:
- Can reliably travel to your place of work
- Are authorised to work in the United Kingdom
- Understand that we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role
Safeguarding Commitment
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced DBS check with Children's and Adults' Barred List checks, along with satisfactory references prior to appointment.
Applications will be reviewed regularly and vacancies may close once positions have been filled, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…
- A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
- Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
- Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
- Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
- Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
- Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
- Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
- An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
Attached documents
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