Play Leader

Barnardo's Child and Family Support Service is looking for flexible and enthusiastic people to join our team, providing as-and-when support as play leaders. This role will involve supporting children, young people & families in the Dundee area who may have a disability, an additional support need, or have been impacted by Trauma or substance use. 

Support may include/involve:

• During school time, evenings, weekends and school holiday periods. 
• On a weekly, twice weekly or fortnightly basis, dependent on the individual need of the child/young person.
• Building confidence, providing opportunities to engage in the local community, being a listening ear, promoting positive family dynamics and promoting health and well-being.
• Group work during term time or during holiday periods.

You will experience job satisfaction and play a significant part in making a difference in the lives of the children, young people and their families, supporting them to build self-esteem and providing opportunities for them to socialise with their peers and engage in their local communities.  This support also provides much-needed respite for carers to have time away from their caring roles.

Candidates should have the following skills, qualities & experience:

• Excellent communication
• Be engaging, creative & fun
• Solution focused approach
• Experience in working autonomously (1:1 direct support)
• Be able to use initiative
• Be a team player
• Be caring and patient
• Excellent organisational skills
• Willingness to learn
• Be reliable
• Be willing to undertake personal care (as appropriate)
• It is desirable that the successful candidate holds a full driving licence and have access to a car
• Experience in working with children/young people who may have disabilities/additional support needs
• Experience in working with children/young people who have been impacted by substance use in the family setting.

The role of play leader includes supervision of support as and when and volunteers as appropriate.

If this sounds like you then we would love to hear from you! Please refer to the Additional Information Sheet for more detailed information about the position.

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