JOB ADVERT

Acacia Family Support is an award-winning Birmingham based Christian charity that offers a range of support services to mothers and families that are affected by perinatal mental health issues, in particular, pre and postnatal depression.

We now have an exciting new opportunity for a self-motivated and enthusiastic individual to join our committed team as a Crèche Supervisor.

Acacia Family Support offers a range of support services to families across Birmingham. We run 4 centres that deliver individual befriending sessions with a trained volunteer, group work and a free onsite crèche. We also offer telephone support, specialist support for young parents and mothers from minority ethnic backgrounds and support for fathers.

We are now looking for an exceptional candidate to coordinate and supervise our free crèchein our four centres across Birmingham. This will include providing hands on care and supervising a team of volunteers. You will be responsible for organising crèche across all four sites. Whilst this is an autonomous role, you will also work closely with our Locality Managers and operational staff.

We are looking for a highly self-motivated person whoholds a qualification in childcare. You will also have previous experience of crèche supervision and have demonstrated knowledge of good practice in child care. You will have good problem solving abilities and a ‘can do’ attitude. Knowledge and experience of work within a mental health and/or support service would be desirable, as would previous experience working with volunteers.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.

The closing date for applications is Monday 5th June, successful candidates will be informed by close of business on the 5th, and interview date will be Wednesday 7th June:

BACKGROUND TO THE POST

About Acacia Family Support

Acacia Family Support is a registered charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. Established in 2004, it operates across Birmingham. Acacia’s mission is to:

“Improve the lives of mothers and families affected by pre and postnatal depression (PND)”

Mental health problems are common both during pregnancy and following childbirth, and can be very serious. Perinatal mental health has been recognised in recent years as a major public health concern. The most common perinatal mental health problem is postnatal depression (PND), with rates ranging between 13% in the first few weeks to 20% in the first year after the birth.

In response to this, we deliver support services to mothers and families across Birmingham affected by pre and postnatal depression and anxiety. Support services include (all free of charge):

  • 1-1 Befriending - predominantly listening support using common factor skills with a compassionate focus, problem solving, support adjusting to becoming a mum etc. Signposting, organising respite care, advocacy work.
  • Group work : workshops looking at strategies to help overcome low mood andanxietyusing cognitive behavioural techniques with a session focusing purelyon strengthening relationships.
  • Childcare: crèche facility at our delivery centres whilst mothers access support.
  • Helping Hands at Home Service: practical and emotional support in the home environment
  • Dads support : 1-1 Befriending and signposting
  • Specialist support for young parents
  • Services are delivered across Birmingham from 4 delivery centres

Acacia is a volunteer led organisation that uses a team of 50+ trained volunteers with lived experience of mental health issues to deliver weekly individual befriending sessions and other types of support . A significant feature of Acacia’s work is the ability to offer a level of additional support and hospitality that goes beyond ‘mainstream’ provision. Specifically, Acacia works to alleviate the barriers to engaging with services, providing free childcare at an onsite crèche and assistance with transportation costs.

Acacia’s services are funded by a mixture of NHS contracts, the BIG Lottery, grants from trusts and foundations and individual giving.

Acacia Family Support is a Christian organisation and our services are open to families of all faiths or none.

We currently have four service delivery centres around Birmingham:

  • Saltley
  • Kingstanding
  • Walmley
  • Northfield

Our head office is in Sutton Coldfield

About the role

Acacia have been providing free crèche facilities for mums accessing our centres for many years. This can sometimes be very challenging and can take up a lot of our Locality Managers time. This impacts on the overall service at the centres. To address this, we are now in a position to fund a new Crèche Supervisor post. As CrècheSupervisor, you will take responsibility for the organisation and day to day running of the crèche facility at each centre. Working closely with our Locality Managers you will plan and manage all aspects of child care during each service. This will involve managing and co-ordinating the crèche volunteers but will also be a hands-on role. At Acacia we always strive to offer mums the best possible care and service. The crèche is no exception and consequently, rather than just a baby minding service, we endeavour to make our creche a positive, stimulating, nurturing environment for children, providing play and interaction in the context of the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS). This is a challenging role, we have limited resources and our centres deliver services to diverse populations so you will need to be motivated and committed to providing a high-quality service which is flexible and adapts to varying client needs.

Job Description – Crèche Supervisor

Responsible to: Operations Director

Hours: 11.5 hours per week

Term Time until May 2020 39 weeks per year

Grade: £9.00/hr

Key Accountabilities:

  1. To promote Acacia’s vision and values throughout provision and practice
  1. To understand and work to Acacia’s policies and procedures e.g. child protection, staff to child ratios, health and safety, confidentiality and to feed back to the Locality Manager any concerns
  1. To have a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
  1. To liaise with the Locality Managers
  1. To travel to all centres to provide service during service delivery 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Monday – Kingstanding (currently weekly)
  • Wednesday - Northfield (currently fortnightly)
  • Thursday – Walmley (currently fornightly)
  • Friday – Saltley, Alum Rock (currently weekly)
  1. To meet the needs of the children through physical care, relationships, play and interaction
  1. To understand the importance of developing a positive parents, carers and centre relationship
  1. To be responsible for the supervision of snacks and drinks to children
  1. To contribute to a nurturing, stimulating and challenging environment for children both indoors and outdoors
  1. To contribute to maintaining appropriate resources and equipment
  1. To respect confidentiality of children and their families
  1. To share in the responsibilities of promoting a positive approach to behaviour management and to be aware of the social needs of the children and sympathetic to their emotional needs
  1. To maintain records, registers and reports for monitoring, ensuring safety needs are met at all times including fire procedures and data protection
  1. To participate in and attend centre staff meetings, one to one supervision and development days as appropriate
  1. To be involved in appropriate further training to ensure personal and professional development
  1. Working with children with English as additional language and special educational needs
  1. Set up and clearing up of activities before and after sessions which will involve lifting and carrying equipment
  1. Regular travel across Birmingham will be required to fulfil this role

Knowledge and Experience:

  • NVQ III or equivalent in childcare
  • Knowledge of the EYFS
  • Knowledge and understanding about the developmental needs of babies and young children
  • Ability to work in a team with good communication and interpersonal skills
  • Appropriate literacy and numeracy skills
  • Positive experience of team work in an early years setting
  • First Aid Certificate / Paediatric First Aid Certificate
  • Reporting to the Locality Manager at each centre
  • Planning, set up, delivery and evaluation of crèche activities

Other duties

From time to time the post holder may be required to perform duties other than those given in the job description for the post at the discretion of the Manager or Trustees without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed.

Person Specification / Assessed by
Knowledge & Qualifications / Desirable / Essential
NVQ Level 3 or equivalent in Childcare / X / All through application and interview
Experience working with young people in a mental health setting / X
Some knowledge of the long-term impact of maternal mental health issues (in particular postnatal depression) across the full range of ages and phases of the life cycle, especially babies and young people / X
Knowledge of good practice regarding child protection and safeguarding and relevant legislation relating to children, including the Children Act 1989 and the Protection of Children Act / X
Skills & Experience
At least 2 years’ experience of supervisory experience in a crèche / X
Experience of working with volunteers / X
Experience of work within a mental health or support service context / X
Experience of being part of a team, implementing new projects and services / X
Record keeping and file management in accordance with Acacia’s policies and procedures and data protection legislation / X
Skills in self-management, including time management / X
Computer literacy skills (including Word, email, outlook, databases) and willing to be able to use these packages and others of a similar nature in the course of duties / X
Ability to work in a culturally sensitive manner. / X
Good communication and listening skills together with a good standard of written communication / X
Personal qualities
A Commitment to Acacia’s aims and objectives including its Christian ethos and Articles of faith
Creative thinker
Problem-solving capabilities
Excellent Inter-personal skills
Good networker and team player
Enthusiastic and motivated
Ability to work on own initiative, planning and prioritizing workload
Act with discretion and retain confidentiality.
Flexible, calm under pressure. / X
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