Family Support Worker

Hours per week: 36.5 per week, all year round

Contract type: Permanent

Forward Education Trust

The Bridge School

Coppice View Road

Sutton Coldfield

Birmingham

B73 6UE

Telephone number: 0121 809 0885

Email address: recruitment@fet.ac

Required as soon as possible.

Forward Education Trust is a growing Multi Academy Trust established in 2017, serving special schools across the West Midlands area. An exciting opportunity has arisen to support our school community through the critical role of Family Support Worker.

The Bridge School educates 90 children with complex and multiple needs. Children may have Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) or a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Some children have additional needs including visual impairment, hearing impairment and behaviour or communication difficulties. We place high value on our relationships with parents and carers and our wider school community and we strive to work in partnership to ensure that all our children can reach their full potential. This is an exciting support role which will play an important part in further extending our home/school relationships, expanding on the support we already provide for our children and their families, placing the child at the centre.

Our Family Support Worker will support the school in raising achievement, aspirations, and opportunities for our pupils, by working with students and their families in providing support, advice, and interventions. Targeting individual support, giving advice, and signposting families to access universal and individually focused services can help to settle and stabilise the family unit, so that students attend school regularly. Maintaining professional boundaries while fostering close working relationships is at the cornerstone of this role. The successful candidate will be skilled at building trust with our families, enabling them to speak openly about anxieties, stresses, and everyday difficulties. It is anticipated that, through this role, pupil and parental engagement with school life and learning will significantly improve, maximising long-term prospects.

We are looking to appoint a well-qualified and experienced candidate, who provides outstanding care and safeguarding standards. This is an active and visible role in the school, requiring excellent relationship skills. Working with the school Leadership Team, colleagues across the Trust in similar roles as well as the Trust Central Team, the post holder will be expected to positively contribute to strategic direction. In return we will provide them with a competitive salary, a supportive team culture and ongoing professional development.

We also offer sector competitive pay, a 24/7 employee support helpline, access to the FET Hub – our rewards and wellbeing platform, as well as working with a supportive team in a friendly and inclusive working environment.

Employee Value Proposition.

Teacher Pension or Local Government Pension – Employer Contribution.

Employee Questionnaire – regular consultation and engagement.

Improved performance and management – including appraisal and development.

Personal and professional learning and development – including FLICK learning.

Staff recognition – e-cards.

Staff recognition – awards throughout the year and at a conference.

FET HUB – information all in one place.

Salary sacrifice – Cycle to Work Scheme.

Easy purchase scheme – Smart Tech with Currys (salary deduction).

Access to discounts from Reward Gateway and MYPerks.

Mental Health First Aiders.

Paid for Health Cash Plan (dependent on children included – can add your spouse/partner at your cost).

Access to the Thrive App – to support mental health and well-being.

Enhanced Employee Assistance Programme – free, confidential advice.

Occupational Health Service.

Policies to support positive health and well-being: Family Friendly Working, Special Leave of Absence, Flexible Working, Menopause.

There’s more we’d like to do; we encourage and welcome ideas.

This post is covered by Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent and spoken English is an essential requirement for this role.

Closing date: 6 December 2023, 9:00am

To apply, please visit our website

Please email completed forms to: recruitment@fet.ac

The Trust may review applications upon receipt and may call applicants for interview prior to the advert closing date.

Therefore, you are encouraged to make an early application for this role, and we reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date.

Please note that only fully completed Forward Education Trust Application forms will be accepted; we will not read accompanying Curriculum Vitae (CV) or accept them in place of an application form.

If you do not hear from the school within 14 days of the closing date, please assume that your application has not been shortlisted.

This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to necessary pre-employment checks, including: an enhanced DBS; Childcare Disqualification (where applicable); qualifications (where applicable); medical fitness; identity and right to work.  All applicants will be required to provide two suitable references.

Applicants please note: This post is not part of the City Council and the successful candidate will not hold a Birmingham City Council Contract of Employment. Please use the contact details in the advert for information on actual employment conditions.

Rehabilitation of offenders: This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. Which means that when applying for certain jobs and activities certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.

An online search will also be carried out as part of due diligence on all short-listed candidates.