Role: Residential Support Worker – Waking Nights
Responsible to: Registered Manager/Deputy Manager/Senior staff
Base Location: Hertfordshire Hemel
Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Start Date: Immediately following safer recruitment checks.
Liaison with: Responsible Individual, Homes Manager, Deputy Manager & Senior Residential staff.
About the role:
We are recruiting experienced Residential Support Workers for our Residential children’s home in Hertfordshire. Our home caters for 2 children of mixed gender with a diagnosed emotional behavioural difficulties between the ages of 8 and 17 years.
As Waking Night Residential Support Worker you will be a key factor in helping us to deliver high quality care to our children. We need enthusiastic Waking Night staff to join our team of professional staff to support the smooth running of the home.
Purpose of post
The post holder will report to the Registered Homes Manager, Deputy Manager and the Senior staff team. He/she will be a member of a team of professional staff caring for children. He/she will be required to implement and contribute to the development of care plans for children in the home, involving liaising with external agencies to assist and enhance the process. He/she will provide a positive living experience for the children who are accommodated. He/she will undertake the responsibilities in the home under the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Homes Quality Standards and the Children’s Home Regulations 2015.
Duties & Responsibilities
To work with all children within the home to support their physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
To support children who have experienced trauma.
To support children with challenging behaviours.
To offer a high level of support & supervision to children ensure they are kept safe overnight.
To support the home overnight with household chores i.e., deep cleaning, washing/ironing and other tasks which are difficult to complete during the day when the children and young people are awake.
To support with weekly household Health & Safety checks i.e. First aid box checks and checks of the kitchen including food expiry dates and fridge checks.
To complete any other tasks which are handed over by day staff.
To complete the homes Logbook, recording any significant events, and ensuring there is a detailed account of the waking night shift.
To complete thorough and comprehensive incident reports if any incidents occur overnight.
To complete comprehensive overnight daily records for all children in the home.
To assist in the smooth running of the home, being part of a multidisciplinary team promoting a warm, caring, safe and enjoyable environment.
To know and follow the complaints procedures, reporting complaints or untoward occurrences to management whether it be from public, staff, or children.
To recognise the needs of the service provided, by adopting a flexible attitude to work routines and shift patterns.
To support children in other environments outside of the home, as required i.e., during hospital stays/admissions.
To liaise with management and colleagues regarding issues within the home, updating on progress, or difficulties in relation to staff, or children and to advise if management intervention is needed.
Have the ability to communicate clearly, orally, written and IT.
To know, understand, follow, and promote the home’s anti-discriminatory practice procedures.
To attend 4 weekly staff supervision and weekly staff meetings.
To make use of all available training and staff development opportunities and to attend scheduled training and refresher courses, ensuring training is kept up to date.
To ensure domestic standards such as cooking, and cleaning are set and monitored in such a fashion as to set a good example to the children.
To promote the health, safety, and welfare of all children, including the promotion of their physical, intellectual, social, behavioural, and moral development to enable them to mature and develop as responsible members of the community.
To carry out personal care for children when needed.
To liaise with family and other multi-agencies to gather information to assist in assessing the needs of children.
To provide a stimulating environment for children and participate in their activities.
To know, use and promote the home’s child protection procedures at all times, developing a good awareness of child protection issues, assessing and recording risk. Reporting any child protection issues. Protecting each child and the group by providing supervision and control appropriate to their age and understanding.
To provide security within relationships based on respect and trust and provide appropriate boundaries.
Monitoring one’s own behaviour and being aware of the effects it can have on others.
To maintain all overnight records.
To ensure an atmosphere of safety for all concerned, where the individual child is fully aware that staff are there to comfort them through the use of good communication skills and relationships.
To practice mutual respect for peers and staff.
To be flexible, which includes working and travelling to other homes as and when required.
General Health and Safety
To ensure the home is physically safe and to provide a good quality environment for the children.
To ensure self and colleagues maintain a safe, clean, and hygienic working environment.
To ensure self and colleagues use equipment such as gloves and aprons based upon the homes policies. To ensure colleagues also maintain these standards and expectations to avoid placing self and others at risk from cross infection. To ensure that routines designed to reduce risks are adhered to all times. To challenge where immediately when these standards are not up to standard.
To ensure that food hygiene standards are maintained at all times.
To ensure that all Health and Safety and weekly routine checks are completed as required and signed.
To ensure that Health and Safety standards are maintained whilst on duty.
To report any areas of heightened risk and to not cause harm to colleagues through neglect of this responsibility. To ensure that colleagues also do not cause harm to others through their neglect.
To ensure that all Health and Safety policies and Procedures are followed at all times by both self and colleagues.
Other Responsibilities or Duties
To seek advice and support, where and whenever necessary, from your peers or managers. To provide support and advice to colleagues.
To make decisions appropriate to the needs of the children through consultation with colleagues on duty and where this requires additional advice seek it from the on-call manager.
To read, research and develop own knowledge along with that provided at the workplace.
This Job Description reflects the main tasks to be carried out by the post holder and identifies a level of responsibility at which the post holder will be required to work. In the interests of effective working, the main tasks may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changing needs and circumstances. Such reviews, and any consequential changes, will be carried out in consultation with the post holder.
Qualifications and experience required:
It is not essential to hold the Level 3 Residential childcare qualification however this is preferable. For those without this qualification, the expectation will be for this to be completed alongside the role following successful completion of the probation period.
Previous care experience is also preferred however not essential as full training will be given.
Rota
Our Rota operates over a twenty-four-hour period, and you will be included in the rolling Rota system. This may include working on bank holidays, weekends, and Christmas.
Special Conditions
Flexibility:
You are required to be flexible, as shifts may change at short notice due to the needs of the service.
Equal Opportunities:
You will be responsible for understanding and promoting the equal opportunities policy.
Recruitment Process:
Our recruitment process aims to create and maintain a safe workforce and therefore contains robust vetting procedures. Successful applicants will be appointed subject to reference checks and an enhanced DBS check