Childcare Assistants

Queen's University has had on campus childcare provision since 1970, and this year will be celebrating 55 years of operation. Childcare Services is part of the Student and Campus Experience, which is dedicated to the provision of high quality, exceptional services at Queen's University. Childcare at Queen's is registered with BHSCT and is legislated by Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and Childminding and Daycare for Children Under 12 Minimum Standards (July 2012).

The post of Childcare Assistant offers an exciting opportunity to join a team of highly experienced Childcare practitioners who provide care and education for the children of staff and students of Queen's. The postholder will have responsibility to be part of a professional team working in a Care and Education (Educare) setting delivering exceptional experiences to the children, ensuring their all-round development is met whilst adhering to the legislative framework. Full-time and part-time posts (20 hours per week, afternoons only) are available.

About the person: Our staff are key to the success in delivering a high quality, legislatively compliant childcare service to our children and their parents. We are therefore looking to recruit a committed and highly motivated person who can demonstrate a high level of skills and knowledge acquired through previous professional practice of working with children aged 0-4 years and children aged 5-11 years for Out of School. The post holder must have strong communication skills and must be able to provide a welcoming, friendly and professional service.

The successful candidate must have, and your application should clearly demonstrate you meet the following criteria:

• At least NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Child Care Learning and Development or equivalent childcare qualification; OR Must be registered for at least NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Child Care Learning and Development which must be successfully completed during 6 month probation period.
• Previous experience of working with children ranging from 6 weeks to 11 years.
• To have a sound working knowledge of Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12 Minimum Standards (July 2012) and a robust knowledge of Children's Developmental Milestones from 0-5 years and 5-11 years for Out of School.
• Complete satisfactory criminal history check.
• SOSCARE check.
• Essential for drivers - Current valid driving licence.

To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information on our website.

What we offer: Beyond a competitive salary, the University offers an attractive benefits package including a holiday entitlement of up to 8.4 weeks a year, pension schemes and development opportunities. We support staff wellbeing with work-life balance initiatives and support for physical and mental health. You can find more detail on all of this and more on our website.

Queen's University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI and Athena Swan and have established staff networks such as iRise (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and PRISM (LGBTQ+) which help us progress equality. Our current staff profile in Childcare Services shows an under-representation of Protestants and so we particularly welcome applications to this role from the Protestant community. For further information on our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit our website.

If you are an international applicant and don't already hold a visa that permits you to take up the role you are applying for, please use the information provided on our website to self-assess whether the University is likely to be able to support a visa application.

Skills: NVQ Level 2 Diploma, Previous experience, friendly and professional.