Communication & Language Early Years Practitioner

Halton Borough Council; Runcorn; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

34 days annual holiday

LGPS pension

Life Assurance

Personal development investment

Free car parking

Flexible working

Benefits platform

Car user allowance

Job summary

Halton Borough Council is seeking an experienced early years practitioner to join the Family Hubs to support language development for children from birth. You will contribute to Wellcomm screening, identify needs and promote Halton’s Speech and Language pathway across the borough.

You will deliver training, engage with parents and carers, and work with a range of settings to build consistency in language development support. A collaborative, inclusive approach is essential.

Qualifications

• You are an experienced early years practitioner with a passion for language development and family support.
• Experience with Wellcomm screening or similar language development tools is desirable.
• Strong communication skills, ability to influence and negotiate with a wide range of practitioners including early years settings, childminders and community partners.
• Good organisational skills and ability to manage your own diary and training commitments.

Responsibilities

• Support and deliver speech and language development initiatives across Halton Family Hubs.
• Deliver training and participate in network events in partnership with colleagues.
• Identify SEN needs early and support SEND pathways.
• Engage with families, carers and practitioners to promote Halton’s Speech and Language pathway.

Job description

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring three iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports. Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services. We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’.

Our Team:

Halton Family Hubs support children and young people from birth to age 19 (or up to 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). Bringing together council, health and community services, Family Hubs ensure that children, young people and families can access the right support, at the right time, in the right place. Our Family Hubs provide welcoming and inclusive spaces, both in local communities and through outreach services, where families can access practical, non-judgemental support. Services include maternity and health visiting support, early years development and play opportunities, family support, parenting programmes, speech and language development, emotional wellbeing support, and targeted help for children with disabilities, additional needs and their families.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to play a key role in delivering Halton's vision to improve outcomes for children and young people across the Borough by enhancing communication, speech and language skills from the earliest stages of development. Recognising the vital importance of early language acquisition in supporting children's learning, wellbeing and future life chances, Halton's Family Hubs are working in partnership with Speech and Language UK to develop and implement a range of innovative strategies, interventions and support pathways. These initiatives aim to empower parents, carers, early years practitioners and local communities to access, promote and deliver high-quality communication and language development opportunities for all children.

Hours:

37 per week based at Windmill Hill Children's Centre but will be required to work within other family hubs across the borough.

Your Contributions:

You will be highly motivated and an experienced early years practitioner with a passion for this area. ou will have experience in Wellcomm screening and other strategies to inform and support early language. You will have the skills to influence and negotiate with a wide range or practitioners such as early years settings, childminders, Family Hubs, community venues to adopt Halton’s Speech and Language pathway and its embedded strategies, to build consistency in this area. You will have a good understanding of how to early identify SEN needs and knowledge of the SEND pathways. You will be an effective communicator and be confident to deliver training and participate in network events, in partnership with other colleagues. You will be organised, can use own initiative where required and be able to manage own diary effectively. You will have a positive approach to teamwork, be a motivator and supportive.

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service with the option to purchase an additional four-days of unpaid leave for our Annual Christmas ClosedownMembership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• Flexible working arrangements
• Extensive employee benefits platform including discounted shopping, car leasing, gym memberships, wellbeing hub and Employee Assistance Programme
• Essential Monthly Car User Allowance

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – [e-mail] reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.