Children's Support Assistant

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Children’s Support Assistant to join our Clinical Services Team. This role will require the successful candidate to provide high quality of care to children/young people and their families, considering the individualised needs for each child. You will be based within your allocated Rehabilitation or Residential House but may be required to work across site according to service need.

In addition to this, take an active involvement in the development of less experienced Children’s Support Assistants by carrying out supervision and contributing to personal development reviews.

Staff benefits include London weighting, shuttle bus, and more… Read more below

Role Requirements

• Provides a high standard of direct care, therapy and education to children/young people and their families, in accordance with their care, education and therapy plans.
• Develop clinical competencies within the competency framework, appropriate to their entry level of experience, and develop further competencies as identified in The Children’s Trust competency framework.
• Contributes towards providing a stimulating, age-appropriate house, and therapy and school environment.
• Takes part in children/young people’s recreational activities and outings.
• In conjunction with professionals participates in the review system by writing reports and attending meetings as required.
• In conjunction with medical, nursing, therapy and education professionals ensure that during their shifts, the appropriate plans and programmes are implemented by their respective teams.
• Undertakes Risk Assessor training as delegated by line manager.
• Support the delivery of an integrated service model supporting children and young people to maximise their opportunity in learning and participating in everyday activities.
• Work as part of a transdisciplinary team in areas as required, to provide high quality and evidence based services.
• Demonstrate understanding of strengths and needs of all family members.
• Place the child, young person and family central to our care, sharing decisions, actions, family priorities and preferences.
• Recognise families as partners and co-produce decisions to personalise education, health, therapy and care.
• Work as holistic enablers to support education, health, therapy and care.
• Support implementation of waking day curriculum and 24-hour neurorehabilitation, maximising opportunities for the child/young person to generalise learning and work on goals across the waking day.
• Undertakes other or additional duties that are within your skills and abilities, as the organisation may reasonably require from time to time.

Interview Date:  Tuesday 30th July and Thursday 15th August 2024

If you would like to discuss the role, please contact the Recruitment & Compliance Team, on 01737 365 880 or email: recruitment@thechildrenstrust.org.uk

For more information about the role, and  a copy of the candidate briefing pack please click here

How to Apply

PLEASE NOTE: The Children's Trust Application Form MUST be completed and submitted, for your application to be considered. You can find the apply now button at the bottom right hand corner of this advert. 

If including a CV please ensure the information in your CV is included in the application form.

Your personal statement must be a minimum of one page (A4 size) and should include your reasons for applying as well as providing examples of how your skills and experience are relevant to the CSA role. 

Your application will be reviewed following the closing date of the advert and you will be contacted via email with the outcome.  If shortlisted for the next stage you will be invited to attend a face to face interview at our site in Tadworth, Surrey. 

As part of the shortlisting process, gaps in employment will be examined and further explored during the interview process. 

Strictly no agencies, please.

As we often receive high levels of applicants for our roles, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interviews. Therefore, if you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume you have not been shortlisted for an interview on this occasion.

About Us

The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.

Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.

Staff Benefits

The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including, Zest; our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.

We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.

Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Rehabilitation of Offenders

Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check.  Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected.  The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.

Equal Opportunity Employer

To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.

Online Searches

In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.