Team Leader – Children’s Home - South West London in Croydon

Looking for fantastic career progression, excellent training and therapeutic support? Join our committed and professional Team and make a difference to Children living in residential Care.

Salary: £32,240 per annum full time and £16,120 per annum part time

Shifts: 40 or 20 hours per week; shift work between 7am-10pm including weekends, bank holidays and occasional sleep-ins

Sleep-ins: £50/ overtime and bank holidays paid time and half

About Us

Our vision is for every child and young person to be safe, loved and happy, to achieve their potential and have a bright future. St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people. We are proud of our history of providing fostering, children's homes and innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man. We have a passionate commitment to our young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do. We provide positive life experiences for young people who are unable to sustain a placement in their parental or foster home.

We are an equal‑opportunity employer keen to develop an inclusive workforce where people feel they belong. We hope to attract applications from under‑represented groups, including people from different cultures, nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, disabilities, religions, faith, sex, orientation, childcare responsibilities, and gender‑diverse identities.

About the Role

As Team Leader, you will be directly involved in managing the home and providing positive support for challenging young people aged 12‑17. Whether shift leading or joining in with daily activities, you will also share in the leadership of the team, helping to develop staff by modelling high standards of professionalism.

St Christopher’s Academy

At St Christopher`s we can offer you a career where you can develop your skills and knowledge while making a difference to young people’s lives. When you join St Christopher’s, we will set you up in your career with a tailored development plan. Whether you want to move across to a different service, become a Manager or just explore further your current role, we will support you to map out your career trajectory and help you achieve your professional ambitions.

The successful candidate will have:

• Desirable professional qualification (CQSW, DipSW, NVQ3), or willingness to undertake Diploma Level 3 for Residential Childcare.
• One year’s experience working at a level of responsibility with children and young people in a residential setting.
• An understanding of the regulatory framework relating to the provision of residential services for children and young people.
• Good understanding of the needs and risks regarding children in care.
• Experience of taking on leadership responsibilities in a teamwork setting.
• Ability to build genuine and trusting relationships with young people maintaining at all times high personal and professional standards.
• Excellent communication and team working skills.

In return we offer:

• A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays, pro‑rata.
• Industry leading training programme including access to level 3 qualifications, children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and social pedagogy.
• Contributory pension scheme, enhanced maternity and company sick scheme.
• UK Life Assurance (Death in service) to the value of 3 times your annual salary.
• BUPA employee assistance programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Bluelight card; discount shopping scheme at hundreds of retailers across the UK.
• Discretionary funded training programmes.
• Employee awards based on performance and length of service.
• Fantastic opportunities to develop your career within our range of services.

Recruitment Process

At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting. Your online application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria stated in the Person Specification.

We advise to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and this opportunity might be filled before the stated closing date. It is against the law to apply for work with Children/Young People if you are barred from working in Regulated Activity and if your name is added to a Children Barred List. All shortlisted candidates invited to interview will be asked to submit a Self‑Declaration and Disclosure form which will need to be returned prior to an interview being booked. St Christopher’s Fellowship has a minimum age requirement of 21 for roles working directly with children and young people in our residential and semi‑independent Homes.