Children's Support Worker

Job overview

Please note: at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts, the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Medway Community Healthcare. Nursing vacancies are also open to Student Nurses and Newly Qualified Nurses.

Have you got a Nursery nursing qualification or BTEC equivalent - then we are looking for YOU. You will be a core member of the Assessment and Intervention Nursery team based at The Orchards Nursery, Milton Regis. In this role, you will observe children, deliver both clinical and non-clinical care, and complete written reports.

The nursery supports preschool-aged children with a range of learning disabilities, and some children may also have physical difficulties. The nursery’s ethos is centred on assessing children through observation within the Assessment Nursery. Where appropriate, children may then attend the Intervention Nursery to support their development through the use of SMART targets.
You will undertake a wide and varied range of clinical, administrative, and supportive tasks as directed by the Team Leader for Children’s Short Breaks.
The role also involves contributing to the assessment of children’s health and social care needs, reflecting on and participating in reviews of care as part of the wider team, and supporting the development and implementation of care plans for both the children and the service.

We are recruiting 2 x part time roles and 30hrs per week.

Main duties of the job

Your daily activities will be varied to include:
• 2 intervention sessions a day (4 days a week) with a group of children shared with the nursery team
• 1 day a week is set aside for the assessment nursery where you will take part in observing a child and at the end of 12 weeks writing up a repost using a framework.
• Personal care
• Writing reports which are checked by registered nurse
• Play based activities to encourage development
• Supporting with physiotherapy exercises
• Supporting with speech & language plans
• Supporting fluid and nutrition
• Risk assessment

Please note, this vacancy does not meet the criteria for skilled worker sponsorship and therefore, we are unable to accept applications from candidates that cannot provide documentary evidence of right to work in the United Kingdom.

Working for our organisation

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is due to integrate with Medway Community Healthcare on 1 October 2026. Following integration and to align our community services to the new Neighbourhood Model of care delivery, there will be a period of consultation which may result in changes affecting some services, teams or roles. Depending on the area you are applying to work in, this could include potential changes to your role, work base, reporting arrangements, or terms and conditions of employment. Any changes would be subject to consultation and managed sensitively and in line with relevant employment processes. Please do contact the recruiting manager if you have any concerns about this so they can answer any questions you might have.

Rated ‘Outstanding’ by CQC, we deliver high-quality care that improves the health of our communities. We are looking for people who share our values: Compassionate, Aspirational, Responsive and Excellent.

We are proud to be an inclusive, welcoming organisation and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We use protected characteristic information for monitoring only and it is not seen by recruiting managers, except where applicants choose to be considered under our disability guaranteed interview scheme.

We know life outside work matters. As a flexible working-friendly organisation, we welcome conversations about arrangements that help you thrive while supporting excellent care for our patients.

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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further.

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.

Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.

We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.

At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.

Find out more about the community difference Good luck! We can’t wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NNEB or Level 3 B/Tec National Diploma in Child care

Experience

Essential criteria

• Recent experience working with children - proven experience in a child care setting.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working with children with additional needs.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Be able to demonstrate a good understanding of child development particularly preschool age.
• You’ll need have sound communication skills to understand and communicate both verbally and in writing.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of services provided by statutory and voluntary agencies to families of disabled children and those with additional health needs.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills. IT skills.
• Be able to document and recognise when to escalate to nurse.

Desirable criteria

• Experience with health needs such as gastrostomies, medication, seizure management etc

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