Early Help Advisor in Flitwick

The Early Years Alliance is the largest early years membership organisation and voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England, representing over 14,000 member settings who deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. The Early Help Advisor role supports this mission by providing advice, training and support to early years registered providers in Somerset, working term time.

About the Role

The position is a 32‑hour per week, fixed‑term contract, lasting until August 2027. The Early Help Advisor will work as part of a team to deliver Early Help services, improving outcomes for children and families.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide individual and cluster of Early Years settings and childminders advice, guidance and support on Early Help and how to work effectively with children and families including children who have English as an additional language, narrowing the gap between EAL learners and their peers.
• Provide training and learning opportunities for registered early years providers and other partners to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence in working with children and families that have concerns or need advice.
• Provide information, advice, guidance and practical support to develop inclusive and effective early year’s environments that support quality relationships between staff, parents and children.
• Work in partnership with relevant agencies to promote the consideration of the needs of children and families in all relevant services and strategies looking at how access to services can be improved for this group of children and their families.
• Developing and encouraging peer to peer support in relation to Early Help and to embed best practice within the County that is shared and disseminated.
• Identify, disseminate and facilitate the sharing of good practice in relation to meeting the needs of children and families in Somerset, seeking to utilise the wealth of experience within Somerset as well as bring national best practice into Somerset.
• Promote the service to settings across the County to ensure they are aware of the services available to support children and families.
• Working collaboratively with other services who support children and families to make best use of scarce resources.
• Use effective monitoring and tracking systems for this project to ensure the project makes an impact on individual and cohorts of children.
• Contribute to the development of appropriate resources and information about resources which can be shared with Somerset settings to support them working effectively with children and families.
• Work collaboratively to promote and celebrate good practice, demonstrating a commitment to quality in all they do.
• Where necessary have the confidence to challenge poor practice which does not achieve good outcomes for children and families.
• Develop your expertise and keep up to date with best practice so registered providers can utilise those skills and knowledge in the role, modelling best practice to settings.
• Work in a flexible and responsive way to emerging issues.
• Be willing to lead and support specific focused pieces of work or projects as appropriate.
• Any other tasks that are commensurate with the level and scope of the role as directed by the Line Manager.

Essential Criteria and Skills

• Possess a NVQ 3 in childcare or equivalent as a minimum.
• Maths and English GCSE or equivalent.
• Able to demonstrate understanding of the Somerset Early Help strategy and EYFS 2025.
• In depth knowledge of the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR and of the needs and challenges of all the different types of providers within early years in identifying and meeting the needs of children and families that would benefit from Early Help.
• Current knowledge of issues of policy, practice and research in relation to the needs of children and how they can best be supported within the settings, utilising a range of strategies to support them.
• Demonstrable understanding of effective ways to facilitate learning.
• Knowledge of recent developments in learning / teaching.
• Working in a similar role or working within a setting which demonstrates best practice in relation to Early Help including the needs of EAL children.
• Proven experience of providing advice and guidance to settings or of mentoring and supporting other settings as a practitioner, helping them develop inclusive practice and effective early years environments.
• Experience of self‑evaluation within a setting or settings and/or experience of supporting settings to self‑evaluate and/or evaluation techniques.
• Experience of working with parents in support of the needs of their children and in particular engaging parents that are less easy to engage.
• Networking and building effective relationships.
• Highly developed communication skills using a variety of media, including report writing, workshop delivery and action plans.
• Highly organised, able to use time effectively.
• Ability to motivate, persuade and influence.
• Sound professional judgement based on an ability to analyse and evaluate and provide appropriate advice.
• Able to plan and manage own workload, prioritise and work with minimal direction.
• Excellent IT skills – able to use Microsoft Office suite of programmes or similar.
• Ability to create systems for monitoring and evaluating services and using data effectively to focus on tasks which are most effective.

Employee Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, pro rata for part time employees.
• Additional annual leave for long service.
• Enhanced sickness pay.
• Employer and employee contribution pension scheme.
• Birthday leave.
• Regular access to internal and external learning and development opportunities.
• Recruitment Referral Payment Scheme – an introductory payment of up to £300 if a referred candidate takes up a role in the charity.
• Access to an Employee Assistant Programme (EAP) with helpline, counselling, legal, debt and life management advice, discounts and wellbeing resources.
• Savings of up to 25% on O2 Refresh Airtime Plan on any new phone or tablet.
• A dedicated mental health First Aider.

Terms & Conditions

• 32 hours per week, term time.
• Fixed‑term contract until August 2027.
• Empty contract type and work pattern: contract.
• Essential Car User Allowance £683.89 p.a.
• Salary details are provided upon request.
• Virtual interview date: TBC.
• Please note our virtual interviews take place via Microsoft Teams; you may need to download this prior to your interview.

The charity is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and equal opportunities in employment. All staff are required to share this commitment and follow the prescribed policies and procedures.