Waking Nights Support Worker - Learning Difficuties children's home

Keys Children; Crawley; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

Keys Children in Crawley, West Sussex, is seeking a dedicated Waking Nights Residential Support Worker to help four young people aged 12–18 with learning difficulties reach their full potential. You will support the team, provide a safe home, and engage in positive activities within a 4-bed setting.

This full-time night shift role offers a salary from £14.45 per hour, comprehensive training, and opportunities for progression within our caring residential network.

Qualifications

• Full UK Driving licence is required for this role.
• Experience in care or transferable skills such as youth work, education, sports or working with vulnerable people is beneficial.
• Safeguarding commitment and enhanced DBS check are part of the recruitment process.

Responsibilities

• Be part of a caring team that provides a safe and loving home for children led and supported by a registered manager.
• Act as a professional parent to give encouragement and praise.
• Enjoy activities like football and sports, laser tag and gaming.
• Provide emotional and physical support to help children reach their potential in challenging situations.
• Build friendships and trusting relationships.
• Help them find pleasure in everyday tasks and empower them to make decisions.
• Ensure a safe home environment including cleaning, laundry and cooking.

Job description

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Waking Nights Support Worker - Learning Difficuties children's home

Job Reference Keysgroup/TP/144326/9292

Number of Positions:

1

Contract Type:

Full Time

Night Shift

Working Hours:

39

Location:

Job Category:

Care and Support

Region:

West Sussex

Business Area:

Children's Residential

Package Description

Job Title: Waking Nights Children’s Residential Support Worker - learning difficulties

Salary : From £14.45 per hour

Hours : Full-time, 39 hours per week

Rated GOOD in our July 2025 Ofsted inspection.

We are looking for support workers to join our 4 bed Children's home and be part of an amazing team, supporting young people to reach their full potential and have positive outcomes.

You would be supporting 4 young males, aged between 12 - 18, who have learning difficulties such as Autism, Aspergers, ADHD and Global Developmental Delay, alongside behaviours of concern.

Our young people have varying degrees of need and we put the child at the heart of all that we do, to support their individuality and strive to meet their needs. Our support offers a bespoke package of care which includes a Positive behaviour support lead and specialist team, occupational therapist, SALT and Keys clinical team.

We also work with an Art Therapist and clinical psychologist to give advise and support.

You would be part of a team who are compassionate, dedicated, resilient and supportive to the young people and to each other, with support from a long standing, experienced, Registered Manager.

The role can be rewarding, but also challenging. It will be a journey with ups and downs, but we take the journey together.

Qualifications, training and career progression

You will receive excellent training from Keys, to support and develop you in your role, with recognised qualifications and potential for career progression within an every growing national Company. We are in the Sunday Times Top 10 Organisations for Apprenticeship providers

Still not convinced?

Keys offer a benefits package including:

• What else do we offer?
  • Career Progression: We invest in your growth with clear paths to advance, including opportunities to become a Registered Manager.
  • Competitive Salary: We offer the Real Living Wage as a minimum.
  • Enhanced Pay Scales: Recognise both qualifications and experience with higher pay rates
  • Family Support: Enhanced company maternity and paternity pay.
  • Rewarding Job - Full of variety and enjoyment. No two days are ever the same
  • Supportive Management - regular supervisions and appraisals to ensure you are enjoying life at Keys
  • Regular Team Meetings – Include and contribute your ideas towards the progression of the service and have your voice heard as part of our regional management team
  • Funded Qualifications – We fully fund and support you to obtain a range of QCF’s opening up further career opportunities and extra pay
  • Paid Training – Get paid to enrol in our sector leading training and level up your career
  • Full Induction Program: Comprehensive introductory training to set you up for success.
  • Amazing Discount Schemes - Access amazing deals with the Circle & Blue Light Card
  • NEST Pension Scheme: Secure your future with our pension plan.
  • Wellbeing Support, Advice and Guidance – Access advice and guidance through our Employee Assistance Programme.
  • Staff Referral Scheme – Refer a friend to join Keys and split a £500 referral bonus between you
  • Circle App – internal communications on the next level, be part of something special
  • Annual Leave: 28 days of annual leave, including Bank Holidays entitlement
    Free Enhanced DBS Check
  • Real progression opportunities
  • Amazing Discount Schemes - You'll have access to both the Cirlce & a Blue Light Card which give you incredible discounts at high street retailers, days out, gifts, holidays - even when buying a car

What does the job involve?

• Be part of a caring team that provides a safe and loving home for children,led and supported by a registered manager.
• Act as a professional parent,to to give encouragement and praise.
• Enjoy fun days and activities like football and sports, lazor tag and gaming.
• Provide emotional and physical support to allow the children to reach their full potential in sometimes challenging situations
• Build friendships and trusting relationships
• Help them to find pleasure in everyday tasks
• Empower them to make decisions about themselves
• Ensure a safe home environment, cleaning, laundry, cooking is part of the job.

What do you need?

• We want people who are naturally caring, flexible and resilient.
• Passionate about supporting children to lead happy lives.
• Great communication skills, positive and energetic.
• Experience in care or transferable skills such as youth work, education, sports or working with vulnerable people is beneficial
• Ability to remain calm during sometimes challenging situations.
• Full UK Driving licence is required for this role
• You need to be able to work flexibly in caring for the children. This will include working shifts and sleep-ins

Keys does not currently offer sponsorship

Safeguarding Commitment: Keys is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone in our care. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Equal Opportunities: Keys is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all sections of the community.

Keys are very proud to have signed the Armed Forces Covenant that means we have made a commitment to welcoming service personnel, veterans and military families into the group. We are delighted to have veteran friendly policies, offer a Veterans Peer Support Network within our teams and are able to offer Military Awareness and support to our colleagues.

As part of our commitment, we will offer a guaranteed interview to current and former service personnel providing that they meet the criteria of the role that they are applying for. If you feel that you meet the criteria for this, please ensure that you have your military experience detailed on your CV for one of our resourcing team to get in touch,.