Universal, SEND & Emerging Needs Practitioner

Hertfordshire’s Family Centre Service is made up of the Public Health Nursing Service (Health Visitors and School Nurses) and the Family Support Service. Our purpose is to support children and families to have the best start in life, develop well and thrive. We provide families with children aged up to 5 years with a wide range of services, information and support on key areas relating to family life.

As the Universal, SEND & Emerging Needs Practitioner you will support the Universal, SEND & Emerging Needs Lead and Senior to effectively deliver high quality family support services. This will cover our universal offer (Little Herts), SEND and emerging needs services to local families with children under 5 years of age, and will also support the engagement of parents in the development and learning of their children.

The Role

• Promote the engagement of parents in their children’s development and learning, covering emotional development, communication and language, physical health, SEND etc.
• Create and develop a range of tools, resources and information that parents can access through workshops, webinars, by attending sessions, to further support home learning.
• Develop a good working knowledge of the demographics of the local community and an understanding of the local services, networks, facilities and support systems, including digital, available for families during ante-natal and post-natal periods.
• Design, plan and deliver initiatives to meet identified needs of local communities and individual families, encouraging engagement and co-production wherever possible.
• Delivery of sessions will be a combination of face to face and also over a range of digital platforms.
• To plan creative responses to best meet families’ needs and deliver relevant support interventions and activities in the home and community, using various parenting models and programmes, individually and in groups.

Requirements

• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent in health, social care or early years (essential)
• You will need a valid UK driving licence and access to a car during working hours, and willingness to travel on a regular basis. You must have insurance that allows you to drive for business purposes

At One YMCA we are an inclusive organisation and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We do not discriminate on the basis of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy/Maternity, Race, Religion/Belief, Sex and/or Sexual Orientation. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities, and industries, and are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences, and abilities.

This is a Part Time role.
Hours per week: 18
Working Pattern: To be agreed (to include Monday and Wednesday)

One YMCA and its subsidiaries, the Early Childhood Partnership (ECP) and Signpost are on an exciting journey to double our impact by 2025. We are over half way through an exciting new strategy launched in the first hour of the new decade, via email where all staff and volunteers were invited to put themselves forward to apply and attend an intensive, three-day Kickstarter Event.

By the end of these three days, there was a brilliantly multi-faceted set of themes and ideas, which formed the starting point for the rest of the Mission 25 process to build on. The aim of Mission 25 is to give every staff member and volunteer the opportunity to play their part in shaping the strategy to do “more and better, together” so that we double our impact by 2025. We deliver a vast array of services across Herts, Beds and Bucks that reach over 135,000 individuals annually.

These include:

• Provision of over 700 units of accommodation for homeless people
• Move on accommodation for individuals moving onto independent living
• Housing and practical/emotional support for young asylum seekers
• Community HUBs hosting a range of activities and meeting space hire
• Childcare provision in Hertfordshire
• Family support through a network of children’s and family centres covering Hertfordshire and Bedford
• Therapeutic and non-therapeutic support for male and female victims of domestic abuse and their children
• Independent sexual violence services across Bedfordshire, Luton and Hertfordshire
• Domestic abuse perpetrator reform programmes across Bedfordshire
• Youth services offering emotional wellbeing support and youth club opportunities for 11-19 year olds alongside our National Airplay programme funded by the RAF Benevolent Fund
• A community gym where everyone can enjoy the benefits of physical exercise Our values remain at the forefront of how we operate as a charity, and it is important to us that all staff and volunteers can fully buy in to our ethos.