Deputy Home Manager in Blandford Forum

The Forum School and Residential Home is a 52-week residential and specialist school providing quality therapeutic care and education for young people with Autism, severe learning difficulties, challenging behaviour, and complex needs. The children and young people that attend our school range between 7 and 19 years of age.

This role is about ensuring that high standards are maintained in the context of staffing, delegated budgets, the resources, fabric of the buildings, and the health and welfare of residents, to ensure conformity with Group expectations and Essential Standards of quality and safety. The emphasis is upon effective management of a number of care staff, which involves motivating, coaching, managing performance via supervision/appraisal, and appraising the quality of care that staff provide to the residents. This role is critical in ensuring that the Essential Standards of quality and safety are exceeded. It also provides the opportunity to develop and improve practice.

Important qualities of this role include an understanding of what ‘good care’ looks like, being an excellent role model, conducting yourself in a professional manner, and being able to relate to staff in a supportive and motivational manner. It is important that you adhere to all policies and procedures. The process of managing and running the home will be open and transparent, respecting the privacy and dignity of residents; supporting them in their day-to-day decisions with respect to the care they are to receive, taking into account their wishes and feelings where appropriate.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• To provide leadership, guidance, and management, communicating a clear sense of direction which staff understand and are able to relate to in the aims and purposes of the home.
• Ensure that all staff for whom you are responsible are putting policy into practice and are either performing to expected standards or that you are/have been actively addressing the issues effectively.
• Contribute fully to making teams work effectively by striving to build positive relationships.
• You must give and receive constructive feedback aimed at developing the quality of relationships and performance.
• Provide and ensure from care staff, high professional standards of record keeping, reports, home correspondence, and communication, ensuring these are maintained, up to date, and accurate.
• This also includes maintaining good communication systems such as handover, logbooks, diaries, notice boards, and staff meetings.
• Ensure that good quality working relationships are built and maintained between residents and staff at all levels and that withdrawal from these relationships is done appropriately.
• Develop and maintain good working relationships with the necessary stakeholders e.g. parents, social workers etc.

Requirements for an Enhanced DBS and reference checking will be undertaken in line with government regulations and safer recruitment best practice. Whilst we endeavour to keep the recruitment process as short as possible due to the nature of these important checks, it may extend the processing time. All young people are equally entitled to have their needs met in a fair and balanced way. Cambian Group employees are responsible for promoting equal opportunities for all and for challenging behaviour or practice which discriminates against any young person or colleague on the grounds of race, religion, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, or any other perceived difference.

We will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will be purely based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not be on the appointment panel will conduct the search and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.