Birmingham Forward Steps is a citywide service delivered collaboratively by Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust working alongside Barnardo's, and other voluntary organisations, operated across 10 districts for children and their parents/ carers from shortly before birth up to the age of five. The service, commissioned by is designed to provide all families of pre-school children with accessible, community-based services in their own homes, GP surgeries, children's centres and a number of other community venues such as places of worship or libraries, with extra help available to those that need it.

Barnardo's is directly managing 4 of those districts and we are seeking to recruit a part time – 22.5 hours per week – Language Through Play Worker for our Edgbaston District.

As a Language Through Play Worker, you will be required to:

• To design, plan and deliver a rolling programme of specific play activities to promote the development of speech and language and communication skills in young children, where there is an identified need.
• To provide group sessions promoting parents as their child's first and best educator, building their confidence to develop their child's speech and language through play activities with their children.
• To provide specific activities parents can use in the home to develop their child's speech and language skills and undertake home visits where necessary.
• To link with the Speech and Language Therapy team, as required, to ensure appropriate referrals are made and using the Speech & Language Pathway, ensure preventative work is effective.
• To work in partnership, across the Children's Centre services, to ensure consistency of approach and practice in developing speech and language skills in young children.
• To keep up to date with knowledge and practice in young children's development of speech and language and be aware of the issues for children for whom English is an additional language.

This role will require you to travel independently across the Edgbaston District therefore you must be flexible and adaptable, particularly in relation to working hours and location.  A full driving licence and use of your own vehicle would be an advantage.

The working pattern for this role will be discussed upon appointment, but may include some occasional evenings.  Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance and are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

At Barnardo's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.  Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.  Please note, we do not accept CVs.

For further information please contact Chloe Gibbs, Recruiting Manager, via email: chloe.gibbs@barnardos.org.uk

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.