Children and Young People SEND Activity Support Worker - Groups and One-One Support

Would you like the chance to work with Children, Young People with SEND and support them to socialise with peers and access new opportunities? Are you a college/university student looking to gain further experience working with children and young people with SEND whilst being paid? Or are you currently looking for additional working hours doing something different from your current role? Due to service expansion, we have a fantastic opportunity for a dedicated and enthusiastic SEND activity worker to join Barnardo's as part of the Short Breaks service in Greater Manchester on an As and When Basis. We currently have several posts available for work across GM mostly in Rochdale and Trafford.

As a SEND Activity Worker, you will have passion, commitment and confidence when working with Children and Young People. You will work as part of a team to support them to build friendships, communicate effectively and have a voice. This role involves 1:1 and 2:1 and group work 

The Holiday Clubs will run every school holiday in Trafford, but as As and When worker, you will decide which days/sessions you can work.  

The role provides lots of opportunities to develop your skill set, knowledge and career progression going forward. The service has a comprehensive training offer including Mandatory Induction training. To be a successful, you will need to have the following:

• Desire to work with children and young people with SEND
• The ability to confidently engage with children and young people who are a variety of ages ranging from 4 – 19.
• Excellent team working skills. You will work as part of a team that covers the Greater Manchester area.
• Safeguarding knowledge and good recording skills
• Meet medical, physical, emotional and personal needs of the young people.  This may include managing behaviour, personal care such as feeding/toileting, showering etc. as detailed in the care plan.

This service is dynamic, no two days are the same. You will work with a diverse range of children and young people with complex/medical needs. The role is flexible and you can choose which sessions you want to work when they are offered.

You will receive:

• Full induction to the role and we will provide a comprehensive training package including first aid, safeguarding, care of medicines, personal & intimate care, behaviour intervention training and any other child specific requirements. 
• Quarterly supervision and team trainings. 
• Mileage currently paid at 45p per mile and 50p when transporting a young person or colleague. 
• Rolled up annual leave pay. 
• Robust lone and safe working protocol with on call support.

Within Barnardo's, the job title for this role is Project Worker 1. This will appear on the job description. You will be supported by senior practitioners and team managers within the service.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

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.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  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 in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

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 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. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• 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.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.  

Our basis and values