Job Description

Barnardo\'s provide a range of services to help families across the UK, working with other organisations and professionals so that children can have the best start in life. As a charity we support over 358,000 vulnerable children, young people, their families, and carers each year.

We are committed to realising Hertfordshire\'s vision for Family Centre Services through a coordinated, reactive service delivery model that responds to the needs of children and their parents, providing early and effective help enabling families to develop resilience and independence, while helping children and young people to achieve their full potential.

We have an opportunity to recruit an Early Start Worker to join our team. You will be working across the Stevenage and North Herts locality to deliver good quality early help sessions for children and families.

Are you able to work on your own initiative and as part of a team to:

• Provide a range of activities for children and young people in safe, stimulating and caring environments?
• Liaise with parents/carers in respect of issues relating to their children\'s development and wellbeing?
• Work collaboratively with the wider Family Centre team to ensure holistic, effective support is available locally for all families?
• Help to develop our Participation agenda through gaining Parent feedback and gathering evidence of the Voice of the Child?

Do you have:

• Level 2 - 3 in a recognised professional qualification in health, education, childcare, social care or equivalent?
• Sound knowledge and experience of safeguarding children?
• Willingness to attend training to extend knowledge and skills as required?
• Ability to build positive relationships with parents/ carers?
• Ability to offer advice and support, or signpost parents to the most appropriate service?

Do you have good communication skills, Maths and English GCSE\'s or equivalent along with good computer skills to be able to use our online systems?

You will be required to travel across the North Herts Quadrant covering Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Royston, Stevenage and surrounding villages, so a full driving licence and use of own transport is essential.

The Family Support Service core working hours are between 8am and 4pm with some evening and weekend work to suit the needs of the service.

Is this you? Would you enjoy being a member of a friendly team, helping parents through their children\'s early years?

If so please apply by the specified closing date.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Additional Information sheet. The Person Specification and are generic for the Play Worker role while the additional information sheet is specific to the role you are applying for

Barnardo\'s believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay and Reward

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo\'s . We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out 1st April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a key pillar of our Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to grow and develop in their career at Barnardo\'s as it will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues to progress through the pay band of their role.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band - this ensures that pay progression steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo\'s pay framework can be found upon application.

About Barnardo\'s

At Barnardo\'s we believe in children - no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo\'s is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo\'s.

Barnardo\'s