The senior practitioner on shift at our four bed Leiston home: leading the shift, holding key work for individual young people, and modelling the standard of care for the team.
£15.76 to £16.32 per hour (£32,781 to £33,946 full time), plus paid sleep-ins
Here at Able Health Care, we put children at the heart of everything we do. We run three registered children's homes across Suffolk, Liberty Lodge in Ipswich, Fern Lodge in Leiston and Oak Tree House in Sudbury, with further homes in active development as part of a planned expansion.
Every home is built on the same foundation: consistent leadership, a therapeutic culture and management stability. We invest in permanent staff, keep agency use to a minimum, and promote from within: our current Operations Managers were appointed from inside the group.
Every appointment is made under safer recruitment procedures, including an enhanced DBS check. We aren't just filling shifts; we are looking for dedicated, empathetic people ready to bring their hearts to work and make a lasting difference.
Fern Lodge is a four bed children's home in Leiston, Suffolk, supporting young people aged 9 to 18 with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It was judged Good in all three areas at its most recent full Ofsted inspection in September 2025.
The Senior Residential Support Worker is the senior practitioner on shift. You lead the shift, model the standard of care you expect from others, and carry direct key work responsibility for individual young people. In a home this size that role matters: there is no gap between the decisions you make and the outcome for the child in front of you.
This is a role for an experienced residential worker ready to take responsibility for how a shift runs, not simply to work within it.
Full time, 40 hours per week. Permanent. Your hourly rate depends on experience and qualification.
Safer recruitment
Able Health Care is committed to safer recruitment and to safeguarding the children and young people in our care to the highest standard. All appointments are made using robust recruitment procedures, including an enhanced DBS check with a check of the children's barred list, full employment history, and satisfactory references. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 under the Exceptions Order 1975.
We welcome applications from all backgrounds and are committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve.
Key responsibilities
- Leading the shift: allocating tasks, setting the tone of the home, and holding the team to Able Health Care's standards of practice
- Acting as key worker for allocated young people, building trusted relationships and delivering planned key work sessions
- Contributing to placement plans, risk assessments and behaviour support plans, and ensuring they are followed in practice
- Responding to incidents calmly and proportionately, prioritising de-escalation, and completing accurate, timely records
- Managing missing from home episodes in line with procedure, including notifications, return interviews and safety planning
- Supporting young people with education, health appointments, independence skills and activities in and outside the home
- Administering and recording medication in line with policy
- Supervising and coaching less experienced colleagues on shift, including new starters during induction
- Maintaining daily logs and children's records to a consistently high standard, ready for regulatory scrutiny at any time
- Deputising for the Deputy Manager on shift where required
Required skills
- A minimum of two years' experience in residential childcare or a closely related setting working with children and young people
- A Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare, or willingness to complete it within the timescale required by the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Training is fully funded
- Experience of supporting young people with emotional and behavioural needs, including challenging behaviour
- A working understanding of safeguarding, child protection procedures, and indicators of child criminal and sexual exploitation
- Sound written English and the ability to produce clear, accurate records
- The ability to take responsibility on shift, make decisions under pressure and give direction to colleagues
- A full UK driving licence and use of a vehicle. This is a requirement of the role: Fern Lodge is rurally located, public transport does not support shift patterns, and the post involves transporting children
- Willingness to work a rolling shift pattern including weekends, bank holidays and sleep-in duties
Nice to haves
- Previous experience as a senior, shift leader or team leader in a children's home
- Training in a recognised therapeutic or trauma informed model
- Experience of supporting young people at risk of exploitation or with a history of missing episodes
- Physical intervention training from a recognised provider
An experienced residential worker who wants to take responsibility for how a shift runs. You are calm under pressure, you give clear direction to colleagues, and you take the quality of your records seriously because you know they will be read. You want a home small enough that your decisions show in the outcome for the child in front of you.
What you get
Level 3 fully funded
Banded pay that progresses
Quarterly group supervision
- Fully funded Level 3 Diploma and a structured programme of specialist training beyond the mandatory requirement
- Regular, recorded one to one supervision, plus quarterly group supervision delivered by an external psychotherapist
- A clear, banded pay structure: your starting rate reflects your experience and qualification, and progresses as both develop
- A stable, established team in a home with a consistent record of Good Ofsted judgements
- Realistic routes into Shift Leader, Deputy Manager and Registered Manager roles as the group expands
- Company pension and paid annual leave
All our homes are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted
#J-18808-Ljbffr
