Do you want to make a real difference to the lives of disabled children and young people? Are you an experienced leader who is passionate about high-quality care, safeguarding and helping children thrive? If so, we would love to hear from you.
Rainbow Lodge is a children’s home in Woodingdean providing full-time care for children and young people with learning disabilities, complex needs and, at times, behaviours that challenge. We are building a warm, nurturing and ambitious home where children feel safe, cared for and supported to reach their full potential. As Practice Manager, you will play a key leadership role in shaping the culture, quality and day-to-day practice of the home.
You will support the effective running of Rainbow Lodge, providing strong practice leadership to the staff team and helping to ensure children and young people receive safe, consistent and child-centred care. You will work closely with the Registered Manager and wider partners to promote excellent outcomes for children, ensure compliance with Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards, and create an environment where staff feel supported to develop and deliver their best practice.
About You
We are looking for a compassionate, organised and confident leader who has experience of working withing a residential setting with children and young people with disabilities and complex needs. You will bring a strong understanding of safeguarding, residential care practice and staff development, along with the ability to lead by example and maintain high standards in a busy and rewarding environment.
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Experience of leading or supervising practice within a residential, social care, health or education setting.
- Experience of supporting disabled children and young people with complex needs.
- A sound understanding of safeguarding, risk management and child-centred care.
- Knowledge of Children’s Homes Regulations 2015, Quality Standards and Ofsted expectations.
- The ability to support, motivate and develop staff.
- Strong organisational, communication and recording skills.
- A commitment to inclusion, children’s rights and achieving positive outcomes.
Why join us
This is an exciting opportunity to join a dedicated and ambitious service that is committed to improving the lives of children and young people with disabilities. At Rainbow Lodge, you will be part of a supportive team with a clear sense of purpose, where your leadership can make a genuine difference every day.
If you are passionate about delivering excellent care and ready to help lead a home where children feel safe, valued and able to thrive, we would welcome your application.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
