Portage Practitioner

Early Help Service | Citywide
18 hours per week | Grade 3A |

About the role

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and committed Early Years Worker with a passion for SEND to join our Portage team, delivering highquality Portage support to children under 5 with additional needs or disabilities, and their families.

You’ll work directly with families in their homes, using a strengthsbased, assetfocused approach to support children’s learning and development. By building trusting relationships with parents and carers, you’ll design and deliver personalised child development and learning opportunities, empowering families with the skills and confidence to support their child’s every day development

This is a uniquely rewarding role where you’ll see the real difference your work makes supporting early development, emotional wellbeing, and confident transitions into early years settings.

What you’ll be doing

Delivering a Portage home visiting service to children aged 05 with additional needs
Working in partnership with families to assess, support and promote children’s development
Designing and modelling personalised playbased learning programmes
Providing emotional and practical support to families when they need it most
Supporting children and families through transitions into early years settings
Working collaboratively with early years, health and other professionals
Planning and facilitating Stay and Play groups
Maintaining clear records and contributing to written reports
Being part of a supportive multidisciplinary team

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who is:

Qualified to Level 3 or above in Childcare
Experienced in working with children under 5, including those with SEND
Knowledgeable about child development, the EYFS and SEND Code of Practice
Confident working with families and building trusted relationships
Flexible, organised, and able to work independently
Passionate about inclusion, early intervention and partnership working
a commitment to flexible working (including occasional evenings or weekends) is required.

Do you believe every child deserves the very best start in life?
Are you passionate about working alongside families to unlock children’s potential?

If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Please be aware that this post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and that you will be required to meet the cost of the DBS check currently £49.50. The payment for this will be deducted from your first four months’ salary payments at a rate of £12.38 per month. If you do not commence employment for any reason but the DBS has been processed, you will be sent an invoice for the payment of £49.50.

If you have lived or worked abroad for 3 months or more in the last 5 years or 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years whilst aged 18 or over, please refer to the link below for details for how to obtain your Certificates of Good Character.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

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