“Thank you for your interest in joining the Broadwalk Children’s Home team.  Broadwalk Children’s Home, consistently rated as “Outstanding” by Ofsted, offers short and medium term residential care for up to five young people aged between 11 – 18 as well as an outreach service. It is an exciting time to join the team as we have recently re-organised the service to build on what we do really well; we have also created additional capacity so that we can develop new and innovative approaches to continue improving outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Here in Greenwich Children’s Services we believe that all children and young people regardless of their background or circumstances, should have a happy and fulfilled childhood where they learn, belong, grow and achieve so that they enter adulthood ready, willing and able to achieve their highest potential. 

Our ambition is to ensure we provide effective, efficient and safe services informed by the views and experiences of children, young people, their families, staff and our partners.  We want to work in purposeful collaboration and involvement with children, young people and families rather than working for or doing to people.

To achieve this, we need skilled, competent, confident, compassionate, motivated and creative staff who want to work in a culture of continuous learning, mutual support and challenge. 

If this sounds like you then we would like to hear from you; we have a vacancy for a Children’s Home Practitioner that I hope will be of interest to you.”. 

Florence Kroll, Director of Children’s Services

Come and join us as a Children’s Home Practitioner 

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Children’s Home Practitioner  

You will be joining an ambitious service with strong leadership and clear lines of support.  There will be a dedicated induction and training / development programme and time set aside for quality reflective supervision.

What is it like to be part of the Broadwalk Team?

What Team members say:

“I am just as enthusiastic today as the first day I started. I love what this home stands for”

“We are young people-focused: nurturing and enabling them to be the best they can be”

What other professionals say:

“Going above and beyond to help young people”

“Committed and passionate”

“An excellent place for children looked after, and an excellent team”

“I continue to be impressed by this team and the impressive care and support it provides to young people”

To be a children’s home practitioner at Broadwalk, you will need:

• The ability to communicate well with a wide range of people from different backgrounds
• To be able to interpret and respond to children and young people’s needs with sensitivity and patience
• The ability to help people cope with painful situations and decisions
• To be able to anticipate and cope with demanding and stressful situations
• An open-mind, flexibility and the ability to cope with change
• To be self-motivated and able to motivate others
• Strong organisational and negotiating skills
• To enjoy working as part of a team
• An understanding of appropriate legislation.

To be considered for this role you will have:

• An NVQ3/Workforce Diploma in Children and Young People or be working towards its completion. If however, you do not currently hold such a qualification, you must achieve such a level 3 qualification within 2 years of the date you start employment with Royal Greenwich
• Substantial experience of working with young people within a residential home, with an understanding of some of the complex issues many children and young people in care may have.
• Knowledge of child development and the effect of trauma
• Awareness of the existence and effects of social disadvantage and discrimination
• Aspirations to “make a difference” and a view to practice in a restorative way
• A positive, adaptable, confident, resilient and self-aware approach to work
• A committed and flexible attitude, a sense of humour will also help!
  
  You will need to be reliable and flexible; be prepared to work unsociable hours, including evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep over’s.

What next?

If you feel you have the necessary background, experience and skills to undertake this role we would like to hear from you.

Please include a supporting statement with your application, addressing how your skills, knowledge and experience would enable you to meet all aspects of the post, as indicated in the job description and person specification.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Debbie Forde;    debbie.forde@royalgreenwich.gov.uk     020 8921 4375  

If you require any assistance in viewing or accessing this opportunity, please contact recruitment@royalgreenwich.gov.uk or call 020-8921-8977  

Safer recruitment: Royal Borough of Greenwich is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Any roles which involve working with children, young people or vulnerable adults, or roles in which the duties will involve access to sensitive information relating to children, young people or vulnerable adults, the Royal Borough will take up references prior to interview. You should provide details of referees including your current and previous employers, covering the last 5 years. Candidates can request for us not to send a reference request to their current employer prior to interview by emailing us at recruitment@royalgreenwich.gov.uk. As part of our Safer Recruitment Policy, a full employment history is also required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment. Unless otherwise stated, a Basic DBS check will be undertaken as part of the pre-employment checks for successful candidates.

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

High Volume Applications: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should there be a high volume of applications received.

DBS: This role requires an Enhanced DBS. (This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act,1974)

Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statement addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statement section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application. If you have a disability and are unable to meet some of the job requirements specifically because of your disability, please address this in your application. If you meet all the other criteria, you will be shortlisted and we will explore jointly with you if there are ways in which the job can be changed to enable you to meet the requirements.

Interview Arrangements: During this time, our priority for all of our recruitment activity is to make sure our applicants, hiring departments and new starters are informed, safe and supported. Careful and thorough consideration will be given to interview arrangements and for any essential in-person recruitment, we will ensure this is held in a suitable, secure setting with additional arrangements to ensure any current safety requirements are fully adhered to.

Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.