Work with us: Student & Family Support Mentoring Practitioner

Make the difference for young people struggling to access education

Permanent position, 30 hours per week (year-round)

£12.30 an hour, plus pension – c. £19,200 per annum

Based in Bath with travel across Bath & NE Somerset

The application deadline for this role is 9am Wednesday 30th September 2020. Applications will not be accepted after this date.

Mentoring Plus is an award-winning charity supporting young people experiencing struggles in school, with family and with emotional wellbeing. Our skilled professionals help each young person to set their own goals and to benefit from time and space to reflect. We work closely with families, schools and other professionals to advocate for the young person and ensure joined-up and effective care.

Due to staff development in our Student & Family Support team, we have a new vacancy for a practitioner able to support young people to integrate into education following low attendance, exclusion or periods outside of mainstream school. You’ll be working directly with a cohort of 8-10 young people aged 5-16 years and their families (each case typically over 16 weeks) to understand and address underlying difficulties, develop resilience, offer practical help and forge supportive connections for each student in their school.

As a community charity independent of the education system, we’re able to advocate for the student, compassionately challenge decisions and model a child-centred and individualised approach to helping each child. Students and families tell us that they feel genuinely heard and supported, issues get unlocked and young people start to thrive in education.

What we’re looking for

A compassionate, skilled and motivated person able to rapidly get to know young people and families facing challenges, and to represent their interests confidently to other professionals.

You’ll be happy working in homes, in schools and in the community to offer time, space and guidance to young people and families, as well as applying strong knowledge of the local support infrastructure to help find practical solutions.

You’ll be confident in your own practice based on at least 2 years’ professional experience in a relevant setting, with recent relevant child safeguarding training, and you’ll be keen both to build and to contribute knowledge. A background in education, pastoral care, social care, youth work or youth justice is an advantage.

You’ll have a base in our Bath office, but must be prepared to travel daily around BathNES, transport young people, and you may need to work remotely on a regular basis. You’ll need a full UK driving licence, daily access to a car and business driving insurance (mileage paid).

A full job description with person profile is available here

What we’re offering

Our vision is a world where young people feel safe, feel heard and feel hopeful for their future. Our values include working generously, collaboratively and creatively, while approaching challenges with kindness, compassion and rigour. We believe this makes our friendly team a positive place to be: we listen, we support each other and we pursue the same goals.

We’re committed to staff development and this role has been created due to internal staff promotion. You can expect early responsibility, space to do things your way and the chance to develop your role in time.

You’ll be supported with regular internal supervision complemented by clinical reflective practice supervision, both individually and in your team. We offer regular professional training to staff.

With this 30-hour contract there’s time to fit in other commitments, and we fully support flexible working.

Our offices are Covid-safe and we are currently enabling professionals to work in schools, homes and other settings governed by a series of consents, policies and procedures. All of our team need to be able to work remotely in the event of Covid-19 restrictions making this necessary.

How to apply

Download the job description and personal profile and ensure you meet the essential criteria. If so, we’d love to hear from you: complete this application form and return it to Becki Fox (details in the form).

Deadline for applications: 9am Wednesday 30th September 2020

We follow Safer Recruitment procedures and cannot accept an application in any other format. Please do not send a CV. This role is subject to background checks including verified references and an enhanced DBS check.