3 Month Contract With A local Authority
Role Purpose
To engage families at the point of entry to the service and build, develop and sustain positive working relationships with service users, both within the centre and in the wider community, enabling families to access the full locality offer.
To provide effective day-to-day front-of-house leadership, reception management and administrative functions for the centre, ensuring a welcoming, safe and well-organised environment that supports high-quality service delivery.
Key Responsibilities
* Act as the first point of contact for families accessing the service, ensuring they feel welcomed, supported and valued, and building trusted relationships from initial engagement onward.
* Lead the day-to-day management of the reception and front-of-house area, ensuring it is welcoming, clean, safe and well-presented at all times.
* Ensure that all visitors are greeted warmly and that safety, safeguarding and health & safety procedures are followed, clearly communicated and adhered to.
* Establish and maintain strong, positive relationships with families, parents/carers, professionals, partners and visitors, contributing to community engagement and development.
* Manage and respond to enquiries to the children’s centre via telephone, email and face-to-face contact from parents/carers, professionals, voluntary organisations, statutory agencies and members of the public.
* Provide accurate information, advice and guidance to families in response to enquiries, including childcare, health, benefits, financial matters and local support services, demonstrating a strong understanding of the local offer.
* Signpost families appropriately to internal services and external agencies, ensuring timely access to the right support.
* Proactively gather feedback from service users on their experiences of the centre and its services, collating and reporting this information to the Centre Co-ordinator to support service improvement.
* Maintain the centre calendar and diary, including training sessions, meetings and events, ensuring information is current, accurate and accessible to the centre team and relevant locality partners.
* Maintain the children’s centre database, ensuring that registration, attendance and engagement data is accurately recorded and kept up to date in line with service requirements.
* Ensure all family records and sensitive information, both electronic and paper-based, are handled, stored and maintained in accordance with Council Data Protection policies, GDPR requirements and confidentiality standards.
Requirements
* Level 3 qualification (or equivalent experience) in childcare, family support, health & social care, community development or a related field.
* GCSEs (or equivalent) in English and Maths.
* Experience of working directly with families, parents/carers or children in a community, early years, health, education or family support setting.
* Experience of providing front-line customer service, including face-to-face, telephone and email contact.
* Experience of managing enquiries and providing accurate information, advice and guidance to service users.
* Ability to build positive, trusting relationships with families, professionals and partner organisations.
* Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with a warm, approachable and non-judgemental manner.
* Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding children and child protection procedures.
* Understanding of data protection, GDPR, confidentiality and information governance requirements.
* Experience of maintaining accurate records and using databases or case management systems.
* Good organisational skills with the ability to manage competing demands in a busy front-of-house environment.
* Confidence in using IT systems, including databases, email and Microsoft Office applications.
* Understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion and commitment to inclusive practice.
* Knowledge of local services and the locality offer, including childcare, health, benefits and family support (or willingness to develop this knowledge).
* Ability to work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
* Resilient, flexible and able to remain calm and professional in challenging situations.
* Willingness to work flexibly, including occasional evenings or weekends.
* Commitment to ongoing training and professional development.
* Enhanced DBS check required.