Play Support Worker - The Moor Lane Centre, Chessington in Kingston

We are proud to share that children's services in Kingston have achieved an OUTSTANDING rating from Ofsted in December 2024, receiving the highest judgement rating in all five assessment areas. This marks Kingston's second consecutive OUTSTANDING rating, a true reflection of the commitment to ensuring children and young people across the borough have a fairer start in life, and providing the support and services they and their families need to live happy, healthy and successful lives.

If you would like to be part of our success story, take a look at the below opportunity to see if it's the right fit for you.

Basic starting hourly rate £14.57 plus a top up paid annual leave contribution (instead of annual leave days). The role is based at The Moor Lane Centre, Chessington.

As a Play and Leisure Assistant for Achieving for Children, you will assist the group leader in providing a safe, stimulating and enjoyable play or leisure environment for children and young people with a disability. You will encourage children to have a voice, participate in group activities, develop intellectual and social skills, and also encourage them to use various resources and experience a range of activities.

Short breaks provide support to young people who have a disability and live in the Kingston and Richmond boroughs. We run group sessions after school, weekends and holidays. We also provide support in the community on a one to one basis plus assist young people in mainstream clubs to enable them access those clubs. Groups use our centres as well as go out into the community for trips out. This is a Zero hours contract; however, there is scope to build up regular hours within the service.

Operational area: Kingston and Richmond. Primary place of work: Moor Lane, KT9. Appointment type: Casual. Business area: Children's Social Care. Full time / Part time: Zero (casual) hours. Salary from £27,345 (SCP02) to £27,729 (SCP03). Hours: 0. Estimated Interview date/s: TBC. Closing Date: 01/12/2025. Ref No: 1661.

About the role:

• Listen and ensure the voice of the child / young person is being shared.
• Support children with disabilities.
• Play engaging and preparation of activities.
• Support our young people with personal care, feeding, moving and handling needs.
• Responsible for keeping the environment safe, organised and clean.
• Making a welcome environment for all.
• Able to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Support with administration of medication, emergency medication or similar (only once trained).
• Awareness of safeguarding and to follow our safeguarding policies and procedures.
• To be expected to write up reports associated with the day's events.
• Expected to follow localised policies and procedures whilst adhering to Achieving for Children Policies and procedures.

About you:

• Interest and experience of supporting children and young people.
• Great communication skills.
• Team Player.
• Able to work after school, weekends and holiday periods.
• Be friendly, welcoming and engaging.
• Be flexible, resilient and calm.
• 5 years of work / education professional references (note; Professional email address only).
• Completion of Occupational Health - (This is to enable us to be able to support you safely in the workplace).
• DBS check from Achieving for Children to be carried out (we do accept DBS’s on the update system).

About our benefits:

• Training: Induction, Moving and handling, Safeguarding levels 1 - 3 and First Aid training to mandatory and other specific training options available based on need and requirements.
• Support services, access to our counselling service, which is a private and confidential support service for our workers.
• Refer a friend: When you are working for us, you can refer a friend to our service and once they have completed the refer a friend working period you can be sent a £50 voucher for a shop of your choice.
• Can work in Variety settings, as we have two locations / bases as part of Achieving for Children Kingston and Richmond services.
• Flexible working hours. We have times when we need to support our young people but we can work with you to provide flexible working to fit in around our needs and your availability.
• Socials: Get togethers at each centre plus Kingston and Richmond socials.
• Plus additional ad hoc perks that come up over the year.

Important Information:

• Start dates: Achieving for Children have meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month.
• Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
• Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements.
• Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams.
• Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
• Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.