Team Leader - Children\'s Home

We are currently recruiting for two Team Leaders - 1 x permanent contract and 1 x fixed term contract for 12 months. Having successfully recruited to the Registered Manager and Deputy Manager positions for our three children’s homes, Gloucestershire is making headway in realising our vision to establish a diverse range of local children’s homes. This is an exciting programme and part of a much wider strategy which aims to support our most vulnerable children in achieving timely permanence.

Our three homes will open over the next few weeks, and we are now looking to recruit a Team Leader who, along with the Deputy Manager, will make up the management team within our third home, Robinswood House. Robinswood House is in the final stages of refurbishment and will soon become a warm, welcoming home for up to four children aged 13 to 17 years, ideally between 14 and 16 years old at point of admission.

All our homes will offer a service to those children and young people for whom residential care is a placement of choice and assessed to be the most appropriate resource to enable them to fulfil their potential. We’re committed to working with our statutory partners as part of a trauma-informed, integrated approach which focuses holistically on what needs to change in order to achieve timely permanence. Robinswood House is a 4 bedded home aimed to provide intensive support to prepare and enable children to successfully move back into a family setting, but who need a period of support in group care before they’re able and ready to move on.

If you are passionate about delivering stable homes built on love and care deeply about supporting our most vulnerable children and young people, then you’ll be interested in helping move our residential strategy forward from concept to delivery. You will work alongside the Registered Manager and Deputy Managers to shape the development of this unique children’s home, through registration with Ofsted and beyond. You will have the opportunity to be at the forefront of bespoke delivery and work alongside partners to configure needs-led support for every young person living within Robinswood House.

If you have relevant experience of working as a Residential Practitioner in a children’s home or other regulated service and are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people in and leaving care, Gloucestershire would like to hear from you. There are lots of opportunities for you to join a workforce with great training and career development, supported by our highly regarded Social Work Academy.

As a Team Leader, you will be required to lead shifts, as part of a flexible rota system, when on duty and provide support and guidance to the front-line practitioners on a day-to-day basis and through formal line management responsibilities. You will also be required to carry out sleeping-in duties, for which an additional allowance will be paid. You will work alongside managers to ensure risk assessments and related management plans are implemented effectively, reviewed regularly, and updated as required. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring the well-being of children and young people in your care by working directly with them. You will also work alongside their families, ensuring effective lines of communication and undertake keyworker responsibilities by attending meetings and statutory reviews as required.

As well as your experience of working in children’s homes, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:

• a level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare (or equivalent, we would consider experience and qualifications from areas such as Youth service, Education, and other Social Care settings).
• evidence of continued professional development.
• a full driving licence and willingness to drive.
• DBS clearance.

Interviews will be held in person in Gloucester on Thursday 19th June.

This position is subject to a DBS check. Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.