Join Early Years – the organisation for young children as Family Support Worker (with emphasis on Antenatal/Postnatal support)
Location: Newry SureStart
Hours: 30 hours
Tenure: Permanent
Salary: NJC Scale 5, Point 12-17 (£26,421-£28,770) per annum pro rata
Do you have a passion for making a meaningful impact in early childhood education? Do you believe in the power of play to unlock potential? Be part of our team and help shape the futures of children by fostering growth and learning through purposeful opportunities.
At Early Years, we are committed to fostering growth for both the children and our staff. Joining means an opportunity to enhance your skills, make a meaningful difference, and collaborate with a team that upholds dedication, compassion, and excellence in early years care and education.
In return, Early Years provides a comprehensive rewards package, including a competitive salary, 36 days of annual leave (pro-rata), inclusive of statutory/public holidays, a contributory pension scheme, options to purchase additional leave, and access to healthcare schemes.
The role
The Family Support team provide a key service within the wider SureStart multidisciplinary team.
A key part of this job is to support parents to be and parents in their role as their children’s main educators supporting them to overcome any challenges that they may be facing which impact on this important role. In order to do this a Family Support Worker may provide one to one support to families or signpost them to the relevant agency for any required support.
The Family Support Worker will inform, encourage, and support parents and parents-to-be to access SureStart Services and will link them with other key members of the SureStart team as appropriate.
The Family Support Worker will deliver appropriate services and training programmes to improve outcomes for families and children within the SureStart catchment area.
We're looking for people who:
At the closing date have:
Essential criteria:
At the closing date applicants, must have:
• A NVQ Level III in Health and Social Care/Childcare or Level III Award in Community Development or equivalent and
• Two years’ experience developing and delivering early support interventions to children, parents and families or,
• Two years’ experience of working with community/voluntary/statutory groups promoting health and wellbeing in
• SureStart area or similar area.
Desirable criteria
• A Level 5 qualification in Early Childhood Care and Education, Health and Social Care, Community Development or equivalent.
• Knowledge of safeguarding/child protection issues and procedures.
• Experience in delivering antenatal and postnatal support to families.
• Knowledge of the issues relating to young children and families and the SureStart aim’s and objectives and how these can be achieved.
• Experience of promoting the involvement of fathers in the care and education of their young children.
• A full current driving licence enabling the holder to drive in NI and have the use of a vehicle for official purposes or have access to a form of transport that will enable the candidate to meet the requirements of the post in full.
An information pack containing the job description and personnel specification is available by clicking here.
As part of the application process, you will need to demonstrate how you meet the criteria as outlined above and, on the personnel specification, and provide a copy of your CV. Shortlisting will be completed based on the information contained with the application form, therefore it is important to clearly outline how you meet the criteria. Please note that your CV will only be used to support your application in assessing employment history.
Once you begin the application, it must be completed in one session, as there is no option to save and return to it later.
Please note, the information pack will not be available after the job posting closes therefore you may want to download it.
The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Tuesday 28 January 2025.
For shortlisted applicants it is anticipated that interviews will take place on Thursday 13 February 2025.
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to six months for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via email.
Should you need to contact us, please use the following methods:
Email: monitoringofficer@early-years.org
Phone: 028 9038 7905
Early Years is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to providing flexible friendly working conditions. As Protestants and males are currently known to be under-represented in the Organisation, we would particularly welcome applications from these groups.