Experienced Practitioners- Waking Night- Children's Home - London

About Us

Our vision is for every child and young person to be safe, loved and happy, to achieve their potential and have a bright future.

St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people. We are proud of our history of providing fostering, children's homes and innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man. We have a passionate commitment to our young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do. We provide positive life experiences for young people who are unable to sustain a placement in their parental or foster home.

We are an equal-opportunity employer keen to develop an inclusive workforce where people feel they belong. We hope to attract applications from under-represented groups, including people from different cultures, nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, disabilities, religions, faith, sex, orientation, childcare responsibilities, and gender-diverse identities.

St Christopher’s Academy

At St Christopher`s we can provide more than just a care job. We can offer you a career where you can develop your skills and knowledge while making a difference to young people’s lives.

When you join St Christopher’s, we will set you up in your career with a tailored development plan. Whether you want to move across to a different service, become a Manager or just explore further your current role, we will support you to map out your career trajectory and help you achieve your professional ambitions. If you want to learn more about St Christopher’s Academy, please click here.

We are proud that 84% of all our Team Leaders, Deputies and Managers are internal promotions.

About the role

As an Experienced Practitioner, you will provide direct support and care for our young people who have complex emotional and mental health difficulties (such as trauma and loss) and can struggle to regulate their emotions.

Working within a therapeutic framework, you will develop a direct programme of work aimed at developing authentic relationships with our children and young people (aged 12 – 17 years old). You will also have responsibility for making sure our residents are safe, providing support, liaising with other professionals, and completing support documents to record information.

If applying for the Waking Night role, you will have the additional support of an on-call manager should there be any emergencies. Further to this, you will be involved in monthly team meetings and receive monthly supervision.

Applicants should have

• Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or equivalent (i.e. Level 3 Diploma Children and Young People Workforce with the children's social care pathway) or be willing to achieve the Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare within 2 years as per Children’s Homes Regulations 2015 (England).
• Minimum of 1 year’s experience working and supporting children and Young People to achieve their full potential.
• Genuine commitment to working with and supporting children and Young People to achieve their full potential; with the ability to build and promote trusted relationships while maintaining professional boundaries.
• An understanding of the issues facing children and Young People and a basic understanding of safeguarding Regulations and Procedures.
• The ability to cope effectively with challenging behaviour.
• Good communication and team working skills.
• Flexibility to work shifts, including weekends and bank holidays.
• Commitment to undertake any mandatory training (outside of working hours) and continuous learning to ensure a high level of service.
• Creativity, enthusiasm and energy to inspire and encourage young people to achieve their goals.

What you should expect from us

• Salary: £28,912 per annum.
• A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays, pro-rata.
• Industry leading training programme including access to level 3 qualifications, children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and social pedagogy.
• Contributory pension scheme, enhanced maternity and company sick scheme.
• UK Life Assurance (Death in service) to the value of 3 times your annual salary.
• BUPA employee assistance programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Bluelight card; discount shopping scheme at hundreds of retailers across the UK.
• Discretionary funded training programs.
• Employee awards based on performance and length of service.
• Fantastic opportunities to develop your career within our range of services.

Recruitment Process

At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements.

Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting.

First Stage Interview–Tuesdays & Thursdays throughout April May 2025

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview at our Head Office.

Second Stage

Successful candidates will then attend the second stage interview at the home they have applied for.

We advise you to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Please note:

• This post has a minimum age restriction of 21 years for roles working directly with children and young people in our residential and supported accommodation Homes in line with the Equality Act ‘occupational requirement’.
• It is illegal to apply for any role that involves working with children and young people under the age of 18, if you know you are barred from working with children.
• All shortlisted candidates invited to interview will be asked to submit aSelf-Declaration and Disclosure form which will need to be returned prior to an interview being booked.