NCS Support Worker
Location: London, Surrey, Berkshire, West Midlands, North West or Yorkshire Length of role: 18 days*, plus up to 2 days of training
Payment: Up to £1530 per 18 day role Dates: June to August 2016
Residential Requirements: Partly Residential
* Please note: we are trialling a condensed version of the programme in the West Midlands and, as such, the length of the role will decrease to 14 days. Payment will also alter proportionately to £1190 as a result. The condensed programme will be applicable nationally for waves 11 and 12. See ‘Work Dates’
for more information.
The Support Worker role
The Support Worker is responsible for inspiring and assisting individual young people with additional needs through the whole of their NCS programme, so that they can get the most out of the experience. The kind of support that is required depends on the needs of the individual young person, but can include supporting learning needs, mental health needs, physical disabilities, behavioural needs and personal care. The type of support that you give will depend upon the needs of the young person but we will match the individual young people you support to your own skills and experience.
This role is suitable for a compassionate and confident person who is passionate about ensuring that all young people are able to access our NCS programme. The Support Worker will be able to motivate and gain the respect of their assigned young person. They will take overall responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of their assigned young person; in some cases this will include personal care or responsibility for administering
medication. The Support Worker will report to the Programme Leader and will work with them and other staff to ensure that the young person is supported in a way that empowers them to socially mix and fully engage in the programme independently wherever possible.
The Support Worker will:
● Lead, motivate and pastorally care for a young person with additional support needs and/or a young person with behavioural support needs, ensuring their ability to take part fully and assisting their personal development through a full programme of intense activities
● Identify barriers to the young person fully engaging with the programme and seek strategies to overcome these (with support from specialist Programmes staff)
● Help integrate their assigned young person into a team of up to 12 other young people and the wider group of up to 84 young people
● Working with the Programme Leader, Assistant Programme Leader, Senior Mentor and wider team, take overall responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of their assigned young person
● If required, meet with the young person and their parent/guardian in advance of NCS at the Parent’s Information Evening to begin to build a relationship with the young person, discuss goals for the programme and address any concerns
● Contact the young person’s parent/guardian on an agreed regular basis
● Work with the support of the Assistant Programme Leader to deal with any challenging behaviour
● Live residentially during the NCS Personal Challenge and NCS Team Challenge; please note that to ensure the safety and engagement of all young people, you should be prepared for long working hours on the residential element of the programme
● Learn and draw from training and best practice in supporting young people with additional needs and applying this to their practice throughout the programme
● Participate alongside our young people on a variety of outdoor activities, for example camping outdoors, rock climbing or kayaking during the NCS Personal Challenge
All meals and accommodation are provided during the NCS Personal Challenge and the NCS Team Challenge.
No meals are provided during the NCS Real Challenge. The accommodation during the NCS Personal Challenge is generally in an outdoor activity centre and during the NCS Team Challenge is generally at a university campus; however, in some areas and during some parts of the programme, accommodation is at a campsite.
Matching:
We initially offer conditional roles to Support Workers after the assessment: this is conditional on several factors, including the candidate’s satisfactory compliance with our DBS and reference requirements and the successful matching of a young person to a Support Worker.
We aim to match a young person carefully with a Support Worker who suits their needs and their availability.
This matching will generally take place 46 weeks before the start of the role, but will vary depending on the speed of information collected related to the young person’s additional needs. This can mean in some cases that confirmation of a role will be at shorter notice.
It is not always possible to make such a match: in these circumstances, we will discuss with the candidate any other roles which we may be able to offer them to work with us.
We try to ensure that, once matched, the Support Worker has a meeting in advance of the programme with both the young person and their parent or guardian. It is a requirement that the Support Worker attends this meeting. This will normally take place at a Parents Information Evening prior to the start of the programme.
Inclusion Seasonal Roles & Support Workers
We are committed to ensuring every young person who wants to can fully participate in the NCS programme and have invested significantly into supporting young people who have additional needs. The inclusion seasonal roles that support young people with additional needs on the programme include Support Workers, Personal Coaches, Learning & Behaviour Mentors and Mental Health Advisers.
Support Workers provide additional support for some young people on our programme, which in some cases means that we assign additional members of staff to work with them. In 2016, around 450 young people on the programme are projected to need a Support Worker. The Support Worker will provide support for, amongst others, young people with additional needs including autism, SEN, behavioural difficulties, cerebral palsy, wheelchair users and support with personal care. Without a Support Worker, these young people, in most cases, would not have been able to undertake or complete the programme.
About the Organisation and the NCS Programme
The Challenge is a fastgrowing social enterprise that connects and inspires people across Britain to strengthen their communities. We work on a local level to bring together people from all ages, ethnicities and walks of life, connecting communities and building trust.
We are a major provider of the government's National Citizen Service (NCS), a lifechanging experience for 1517yearolds. In summer 2016, 42,000 young people across our regions will take part in our eighteen day intensive NCS programme. The scheme is available to young people from all backgrounds who get the chance to do outdoor activities, meet new people and give something back to their
communities. By taking part they learn new skills and have a great experience they can put on their CVs or college applications. They achieve this by completing three challenges:
● NCS Personal Challenge: Between four and seven socially mixed teams of young people bond through a week of challenging outdoor activities.
● NCS Team Challenge: Teams return to their local area and learn skills in either Drama, Media, Photography, Enterprise, Music, Art or Sport. They use these skills to interact with the community and create a showcase performance for friends and family.
● NCS Real Challenge: Teams work to design and deliver a campaign and social action projects that will bring the local community together. In order to gain funding and advice on their projects, the young people pitch to a ‘Dragons Den’ style panel of influential people in their community.
All young people who complete our NCS programme graduate and are signposted into yearround social action opportunities through The Challenge Society.
Our Seasonal Staff Expectations
● Experience of working with young people. A belief in their potential and the ability to build rapport with them.
● Energy and enthusiasm to enable young people to use their skills to learn from their community.
● A willingness to take responsibility for delivering a challenging and safe experience for participants
● Flexible with a creative and constructive approach to solving problems.
● Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve successful and constructive results
● We expect all staff to act as role models to our young people. In addition to the above this includes being organised, proactive, reliable and punctual.
Safeguarding Statement and Requirements
The Challenge is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people taking part in the programme. We expect all staff and post holders to share this commitment.
As part of this commitment to providing a safe environment for our young people, we require all candidates to return a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate dated on or after 01 January 2015. The Challenge will assist the application for, and pay for the processing of, a new DBS for staff members where required.
We also require two satisfactory references, at least one of which should detail suitability to work with young people and another to be from your current or most recent employer.
Training
All Support Workers must attend up to 2 days of unpaid, nonresidential training to deliver our NCS
programme. Support workers may be required to attend additional training to meet specific needs of young people, which may include reading additional guidance in advance of working on the programme.
We reserve the right to dismiss any staff member who does not complete training, does not participate fully, or does not perform in line with our values as an organisation.
Work Dates
Support Workers will work for 18 days on each NCS programme they commit to. They are able to work up to two programmes during the Summer, depending on availability.
The work date options for a Support worker are below please check the schedule relevant to your preferred work location.
Greater London, Surrey, Berkshire, NorthWest England, Lancashire & Yorkshire
Waves NCS PC NCS TC NCS RCD NCS RCA
1 18 22 June 25 29 June 1 4 July 7 10 July 2 22 26 June 29 June 3 July 5 8 July 11 14 July
3 26 30 June 3 7 July 9 12 July 15 18 July
4 30 June 4 July 7 11 July 13 16 July 19 22 July 5 7 11 July 14 18 July 20 23 July 26 29 July 6 11 15 July 18 22 July 24 27 July 30 July 2 August 7 15 19 July 22 26 July 28 31 July 3 6 August 8 23 27 July 30 July 3 Aug 5 8 August 11 14 August 9 27 31 July 3 7 August 9 12 August 15 18 August 10 31 July 4 Aug 7 11 August 13 16 August 18 & 19, 22 & 23 Aug 11 7 11 August 14 16 August 17 18 August 22 24, 26 August 12 11 15 August 18 20 August 21 22 August 23, 26 28 August
West Midlands (Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall)
Wave PC TC RCD RCA
1 15 22 June 25 27 June 28 29 June 3 6 July 2 22 26 June 29 June 1 July 2 3 July 7 10 July 3 26 30 June 3 5 July 6 7 July 11 14 July 4 30 June 4 July 7 9 July 10 11 July 15 18 July 5 7 11 July 14 16 July 17 18 July 23 26 July 6 11 15 July 18 20 July 21 22 July 26 29 July 7 15 19 July 22 24 July 25 26 July 31 July 3 Aug 8 23 27 July 30 July 1 Aug 2 3 August 7 10 August 9 27 31 July 3 5 August 6 7 August 11 14 August 10 31 July 4 Aug 7 9 August 10 11 August 15 18 August 11 7 11 August 14 16 August 17 18 August 22 24, 26 Aug 12 11 15 August 18 20 August 21 22 August 23, 26 28 Aug
Role Requirements
Candidates must demonstrate the following skills and characteristics:
Essential:
● Experience of working directly with people with additional support needs in a residential environment
● Ability to motivate and earn the respect of young people
● Ability to follow and make adaptations to a curriculum to increase the accessibility and impact for assigned young person
● Belief in helping young people take more active roles in their communities
● Belief in the importance of bringing all young people together regardless of differences
● Ability to work independently
● Ability to work well with in a larger staff team to achieve the best results for the assigned young person
● Experience of working in a fast paced and demanding environment
● Flexible and adaptable to change
● Ability to understand and follow safeguarding and Health and Safety guidelines, along with other policies and procedures
● Experience of making decisions under pressure Beneficial:
● Knowledge in disability legislation and best practice
● Relevant course certification (eg medication disbursing/administration, manual lifting of a person, hoist lifting)
● Relevant diploma and/or degree courses: advanced social care, health care, disability related courses.
We also look for all employees to show the following characteristics:
● Trustbuilding: Works hard to build trust with people. Brings together different groups of people.
● Responsibilitytaking: Takes responsibility for actions and attitudes. Claims and solves problems in the community.
● Understanding and Empathy: Works to understand others – their strengths, fears and needs.
Ready to stand up for someone who is different. Willingness to be prepared to lead by example and encourage others to do the same.
Further Details
This is an excellent opportunity to be involved with an exciting programme which has tangible results for the young people involved. The role is demanding and fastpaced but highly rewarding. The
compensation for this contract role is £1,530 per 18 day role. We additionally pay Support Workers a one off £20 for attending a Parents Information Evening, when they meet their young person and their parent or guardian.This payment includes pay in lieu of annual leave and is subject to tax and National Insurance deductions. There is no additional payment for attending training. Staff will be paid through The Challenge payroll on a monthly basis. Staff can only claim for travel expenses incurred during the delivery of the programme, and not to and from either the residential or nonresidential part of the programme.
Additional Support Needs
As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from a diverse range of people, including those with disabilities. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to ensure that successful candidates are able to undertake the role that they are offered. You will be asked to tell us about any additional support needs at the post assessment stage but we encourage candidates to get in touch with
any concerns or questions they may have either before or during the application process by emailing Sherry or Matthew at inclusionroles@thechallenge.org
To Apply
For further details and to apply, please visit www.ncsthechallenge.org/jobs
Our NCS programme is part of National Citizen Service.
