Residential Support Worker

About the School

Based in the heart of Chester City Centre, Abbey School is an Independent Day and Residential Special School for young people with autism aged 4-19 years whom may have additional learning difficulties and behaviours that challenge.

Our school is expanding- our pupil cohort is increasing, and our staff teams are growing to support our new pupils who are due to start with us. We are currently seeking to appoint enthusiastic, proactive, and hard-working support workers who are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEN and/or disability and their families.

Our Support Workers support our pupils in Abbey Green, our residential provision, in the mornings before school, in the evenings after school, and over weekends/half terms.

Our Care staff teams who work in Abbey Green work in partnership with the education staff teams who are based in the main school building. Support Workers work with school learning mentors, class teachers, behaviour analysts, our speech and language therapist, and our occupational therapist to provide the best level of support for our pupils, providing a personalised extended 24/7 curriculum.

Our staff are our most valuable resource in ensuring that pupils reach their best possible outcomes and as such we prioritise investment in professional development. All staff receive regular training and supervision to ensure that they have the understanding, skills and knowledge to support our pupils effectively.

About the post

This is a permanent, full-time post, and we are seeking to appoint as soon as possible.

The role of residential support worker offers a shift pattern to allow staff to create a work life balance. The shift pattern includes a combination of early and late shifts, or long days, with one weekend in every two weeks. To meet the needs of the business residential support workers may be required to work a period of waking night shifts.

Role Purpose

Children and young people are supported by a highly skilled and well qualified team of residential care staff with relevant social care qualifications. The team comprises a home manager, Deputy Manager, Team Leaders, Senior Residential Support Workers, Residential Support Workers and Waking Night Staff. All of our young people are at least supported 1:1 as a minimum. This high ratio of residential staff facilitates the bespoke work we do to support the complex needs.

The role of Residential Support Worker is to fully support the daily needs of our young people and to deliver the highest quality of care to those who reside in the residential setting.

Responsibilities and Role

The main focus is to create a safe, caring and nurturing environment for resident young people which promotes the school’s focus on enhancing Quality of Life through the Abbey School BAGS model (Belonging and connection, Autonomy and control, Gifts and talents, Speaking listening and sense of self).

You will support the residential staff team to have a specific focus on preparing young people for adult life and you will work closely with parents and families to ensure that each young person’s support needs are fully met. As a residential support worker, you will play a role in the establishment, maintenance and development of the environment and climate of Abbey Green, thus providing young people with a calm and relaxing living experience.

Promotion of Good Child Care Practice

It is vital that our young people receive an outstanding level of care. You will be involved in the day-to-day supervision of children and young people regarding standards of care in line with the National Minimum Care Standards for Residential Special Schools and the wider implications of guidelines, procedures, instructions and policies, e.g. health care, children’s rights, childcare law, etc.

Being part of the residential team requires that you demonstrate good child practices in your own direct work with children. You will be responsible for compiling reports, supporting tracking behaviour and liaising as a key worker with the education transdisciplinary team.

A key part of your role will be to actively seek the views and opinions of children and provide a platform for pupil voice in line with their preferred method of communication. Our staff ensure that all pupils engage and make progress through a personalised extended curriculum. You will work holistically with education staff, and parents and families, to plan, practice and collect evidence of progress within the 24-hour extended curriculum.

For further information please visit https://www.abbeyschool.com/residential-support-worker/

This is a rolling recruitment advert - there is no current deadline to apply, however we encourage applications at your earliest convenience to support our new pupils that are due to start with us. Please send a completed application form to recruitment@abbeyschool.com.

Applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

The School will complete an online search for all shortlisted candidates. If any incidents or issues have happened that are publicly available online, the school may wish to explore this at interview.

The safeguarding responsibilities of this post are to uphold Abbey School policies to protect and safeguard pupils and vulnerable adults in order to secure their health, safety and wellbeing.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the School is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are ‘spent’ unless ‘protected’ under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, sex, pregnancy and maternity, marriage/civil partnerships, religion/belief, or sexual orientation.