Children & Young Adult's Manager (Special Needs & Disability)
Hours: 37.5 hours a week (including weekends, flexibility required).
Annual Leave: 33 days including bank holidays.
Location: Harrow
Salary: Circa £38K per annum
The role:
Responsible for managing operational matters and ensuring positive outcomes for children & young adults who access play & support activities. Lead and manage the team of assistant managers, permanent and sessional special needs play workers, oversee the development and implementation of high-quality programs, and ensure adherence to guidelines and policies.
Monitor and create empowering activity programs for children and young adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. This involves a diverse range of activities such as storytelling, dance, drama, music, cooking, arts and crafts, sports, group games, messy play, and community outings. Actively engage in the development and implementation of these programs, assess their impact on children, and continuously measure positive outcomes.
Be responsible for overseeing the care of children with high support needs, including behaviours of concern. Whether operating within our centre, the community, or family homes, the service manager will ensure that all staff are trained and adhere to policies and procedures to ensure the safety, well-being, and inclusion of children. Work collaboratively with the team to address challenges, make necessary adjustments, and continuously improve the overall quality of services provided within an enabling environment that promotes the Positive Behaviour Support framework.
Demonstrate in your practice our values of:
•Kindness
•Choice
•Ambition
Person-Centred Planning & Support:
Ensure every child and young adult's needs are met by having Ambition about learning outcomes and collaborating effectively with a multidisciplinary team of external professionals. Exhibit flexibility, enthusiasm, and self-motivation to support forward thinking, change, and swift responses to the unique needs of each child and young adult.
Speak up against practices that do not align with safeguarding or our core values. Proactively ensure the team safeguards and protects children & young adults from abuse. Support the team in monitoring, reporting, and acting on child protection matters. Be the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the team and liaise with multidisciplinary agencies to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm. Take part in internal fact-funding processes and make referrals.
Foster relationships with families, actively involving them in planning and decision-making. Provide factual professional feedback on their child's development utilizing electronic
Service Manager JD - February 2024 2
systems, formal and informal meetings. Work in partnership with our family workers to ensure the children we support, and their families are safe, happy, and healthy.
Develop support packages that promote Kindness and an enabling approach for children & young adults with a learning disability. Complete assessments, develop programs, and lead by example in Positive Behaviour Support, focusing on team members' understanding underlying needs rather than just addressing behaviours. Ensure the team works on assessed needs and support plans, with detailed, reflective observations providing developmentally challenging next steps for children and provide team members support to reflect on practice and training.
Plan and deliver varied, balanced, stimulating, fun, and exciting play and learning activities for children and young adults with learning disabilities, including severe and complex health and communication needs, autism, and ADHD. Role model the delivery of rich play and learning opportunities with a focus on interaction by staff members, along with exceptional person-centred care and support. Praise and celebrate children's accomplishments.
Conduct thorough assessments of needs and plan appropriately for groups and 1-to-1 activities, both within our building and the community, to support the children's needs and minimize risk.
Take a proactive approach to Health and Safety, conducting risk assessments and ensuring that policies and procedures are adhered to. Maintain a clean and inviting environment with well-kept play & learning resources. Develop nurturing and supportive environments for children, young adults, and staff to flourish and have fun.
Leading The Team:
Practice and promote empathy, commitment, and creativity to effectively work with children of varying abilities and diverse backgrounds. Lead with the patience and resilience required for the staff members.
Plan and deliver induction, supervision, and professional development, appraisal, and regularly discuss challenges and successes of team members.
Promote equality, value diversity, and champion inclusion, celebrating difference so all staff can contribute and feel recognized and valued. Encourage staff to use their initiative and recognize the effort and achievements and give constructive feedback and praise. Resolve disputes and complaints, escalating serious incidents and claims of bullying, harassment, victimization, or unlawful discrimination. You maintain open lines of communication with all team members and encourage them to voice concerns, ask questions, and share their experiences. You monitor individuals' and team morale.
Complete staff-related risk assessments, manage absences, and support performance improvement. Monitor individuals' wellbeing, involving Human Resources in all matters where staff wellbeing is a concern.
Delegate appropriately and support as required. Debrief and provide reflective reviews from incidents.
Be highly visible, communicate confidently and be organized. Ensure that appropriate paperwork, digital systems, and reports are updated and complete to facilitate exceptional care, learning, and provide feedback creating consistent practice. Challenge and address any staff behaviours or practices that go against KCA's expectations.
Support staff to develop skills and competences to meet children's individual needs, health, and care requirements, including eating, using the toilet, nappy changing, as well as administering medication, tube feeding, and manual handling.
Participate on the on-call system for out-of-office hours and weekends.
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Administration:
Organize and manage staff rotas for optimal coverage utilizing core team hours and sessional availability.
Manage children's bookings systems and changes, keeping accurate attendance records. M Manage staff annual leave and other employment-related matters and liaise with the human resources team.
Communicate with parents and professionals to facilitate children's care and safeguarding. Use strong organizational skills for daily and long-term planning and foster efficient communication with staff, directors, and trustees. Maintain accurate and organized records, develop monitoring systems.
Finance:
Manage effectively core team and sessional staff hours to meet service needs and provide financial sustainability against the funding stream. Effective budget management and spending as agreed through budget setting. Financial targets are met and spending is managed efficiently. Record accurately data for invoicing schedules and salary returns.
Strategic Development:
Oversee and mobilize the expansion of services in other areas to increase our geographical coverage and provide financial growth. Continue service growth in Harrow. Support the recruitment and retainment of new staff. Be the main contact for Ofsted and ensure KCA meets standards and receives excellent inspection outcomes. Prepare the services for internal audits and those of external authorities. Implement the Positive Behaviour Support framework and digitization of systems. Aim for excellent quality of care for children and young adults.
Ensure internal policies and procedures are adhered to while also meeting the external legislation and guidelines from our governing bodies.
Professional Development:
Manage your time effectively to fulfil responsibilities aiding business development. Identify personal development needs to meet operational and professional requirements. Attend internal and external learning events to develop relevant knowledge, techniques, and skills. Maintain a detailed knowledge of the organization's services.
We look forward to hearing from you, Good Luck!
All applicants will require the appropriate qualifications and training for this role. Please see the FAQs on the Protocol Education website for further details.
All pay rates quoted will be inclusive of 12.07% statutory holiday pay. This advert is for a temporary position. In some cases, the option to make this role permanent may become available at a later date.
Protocol Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. We undertake safeguarding checks on all workers in accordance with the DfE statutory guidance 'Keeping Children Safe in Education', this may also include an online search as part of our due diligence on shortlisted applicants.
We offer FREE online safeguarding and Prevent Duty training to all our workers. All candidates must undertake or have undertaken a valid enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and subscribe to the DBS Update Service.
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