The Support Worker role involves providing care, education, and emotional support to children and young adults, ensuring their well-being, progress, and safety. You will work closely with the Care Management Team, teachers, and therapists to implement care and education plans, advocate for students' needs, and promote independence in daily activities. The role also includes supporting social and leisure activities, maintaining a safe and personalized environment, and ensuring effective communication with families and professionals. The ideal candidate will be compassionate, dedicated, and committed to the development of the students in their care.
Qualifications – Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or a similar qualification, or gain the
qualification within 2 years of taking up the appointment.
1. Job Purpose
- To provide support for students in all aspects of care, education health and well being
- To enable students to make progress against agreed targets
- To safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young adults at all times
2. Relationships
- With the Care Management Team for all working arrangements during out of School time
- With allocated teachers during school time
- With therapists at all times
- With NAPPI, and Safeguarding Team at all times
3. Particular Responsibilities
- To ensure that a young person’s entitlement to a high standard of welfare and safety is
met by meeting the requirements of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015
and Quality Standards
- To ensure that a young person’s entitlement to a high standard of teaching and Learning
and communication is achieved in association with teachers and therapists.
- To ensure that young people’s entitlement to self advocacy and safety are met through
adopting their preferred communication styles and using proactive approaches to their
communication needs e.g. NAPPI and Child protection policy.
4. Key Tasks
- To support the young person in areas of personal hygiene.
- To implement care procedures as presented in the staff handbook, statement of
purpose and accordance with Minimum Standards.
- To allow young people time to be independent; and develop independence by allowing
them time to complete actions at their own pace.
- To allow young people time to be able to be part of different sized groups – for example
choosing their ‘friendship groups’; have time to themselves etc.
- To ensure that the young person’s care plan and placement plan is up to date as a key
worker. To read, understand and fully implement the care plan.
- To advocate on behalf of young people so that their behaviours are put in the context of
their learning and communication difficulties e.g. that sensory behaviour is not mistaken for sexual behaviour as a result of poor communication is not seen as only intentional
behaviour.
- To balance at all times the young person’s actual age with their ability age.
- To ensure that the young person’s environment is clean, personalized and regularly
reviewed for decoration.
- To meet leisure and social needs by providing organized time for play/leisure;
community access and independent time.
- To provide planned time for communication between parents and the young person.
- To participate in working rotas as required and to undertake sleep in duties.
- To drive company vehicles as long as the required criteria is met.
- To work flexibly and cooperatively as part of the care department.
- To follow teacher and therapy guidance.
- To be aware of Pegasus School’s NAPPI policies in dealing with all areas of a young
person’s welfare e.g. putting appropriate augmentative communication systems in
place; making judgements about what kind of interventions are appropriate; following
approaches by NAPPI trainers and the Team around the Child (TAC)
- To advocate for the young person’s health, education and care needs.
- To follow child protection procedures as required and at all times.
- To establish relationships with young people in accordance with their welfare,
educational and therapeutic needs as agreed by the Team around the Child.
- To undertake any relevant training as offered by the Head Teacher and or Registered
Manager, in conjunction with the training and development plans.
- Be aware of and work in accordance with Health and Safety guidelines and the Equal
Opportunities policy.
- To observe and maintain confidentiality at all times.
- To undertake other duties as reasonably expected of a support worker.
- To undertake any other duties within the competency of the post as determined by the
Head teacher/Head of Care/Registered Manager
5. Key worker role
- All staff who have successfully completed their probationary period are expected to
undertake Keyworker duties when requested to.
These duties may include some or all of the following tasks:
- To act as a key point of contact for the young person, family, social worker and all other
significant people in the young person’s life.
- To promote and assist regular planned contact with key people, whether via letter,
email, telephone calls, Skype, visits, etc.
- To assist and enable the young person to purchase birthday and any religious festival
gifts or cards for any significant person in the young person’s life.
- To support and monitor the young person’s pocket money, clothing allowance and/or
savings, enabling them to make correct financial decisions.
- To ensure that the young person has appropriate gifts at the appropriate times.
- To take a lead role in the Team around the Child.
- To act as the lead advocate for the young person, meeting on a regular basis to actively
consult with the young person. To actively action and feedback from any requests.
- To support the young person to record and document their life story whilst they are
residing at Pegasus, be it in the form of scrap books, digital media or other form.
- To take responsibility of the young person’s possessions; including taking them and
supporting them to buy clothes, monitoring of condition and fit, labelling, purchasing
toiletries, and regular monitoring of all possessions.
- To take responsibility of the young person’s bedroom and joint responsibility of the
communal areas; ask the young person how they want it decorating, to keep it in good
repair, encourage the young person to make it age appropriate.
- Observe and promote the young person’s culture and faith, involving them at all times.
- Take an active role in ensuring the young person has access to the activities they would
enjoy, as well as suggesting and organising them.
- To attend all relevant meetings when a key worker(on and off site) including but not
exclusively:
Team around the child
Looked after child reviews
Annual reviews
- To be responsible for when a key worker and to complete all relevant paperwork and/or
support the young person to complete including;
Monthly reports
Review paperwork
All about Me
Placement Plan
- Assist with induction training, coaching and mentoring staff in good practice with that
young person.
- To be actively involved in all medical appointments, clinical meetings and relevant
desensitisation work.
- Monitor health and wellbeing of the young person, including any illness or allergy
- To promote all aspects of the placement plan and consistent working including
behaviour management, risk assessment and communication strategies.
- To undertake all other responsibilities that may arise as a result of fulfilling the job
description and in agreement with managers
- It is your professional responsibility to help protect those in our care and keep yourself
and colleagues safe. Where you are required to provide close contact care, support or
any level of physical intervention you will be required to wear PPE and take part in
regular Coronavirus testing, this is mandatory across our services. In addition, you may
be required to care for or support those who may have an illness, infection or virus such
as Coronavirus (including asymptomatic cases), it is therefore strongly recommended
that you have the Covid-19 vaccine and any required booster jabs where there is no
medical or religious reason not to do so.
You as an employee are required by The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 to;
- Take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and others who may be
affected by what you do or don’t do
- Cooperate with the company to ensure compliance with the law.
And under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1999 you as employee are required
to:
- Inform your employer of any work situation which you consider represents a serious and
imminent danger and any shortcoming in the employer’s protection arrangements for
health and safety.
- Ensure you do not misuse or interfere with equipment provided for your safety or the
safety of others.
INDADB
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: £13.50-£15.50 per hour
Expected hours: 37.5 per week
Benefits:
Schedule:
Work Location: In person
