Best Start Inclusion Practitioner

One YMCA's Family Support Services work alongside children, families and communities to give every child the best possible start in life. Through our Best Start Family Hubs and Family Centres, we provide accessible, inclusive and responsive support that helps families build resilience, strengthen relationships and improve outcomes for children. Our services focus on early intervention, reducing inequalities and ensuring families can access the support they need, when they need it.

About the Role:

We are looking for a compassionate, proactive and experienced Best Start Inclusion Practitioner to join our Family Support Services team. This rewarding fixed-term role until March 2029 focuses on supporting families with children under five who have SEND, disabilities or emerging additional needs. Working across Best Start Family Hubs, Family Centres and community settings, you will help families overcome barriers to accessing services, promote early identification and intervention, and ensure inclusive practice is embedded throughout our delivery. You will work directly with families, colleagues and partner agencies to create positive outcomes for children and support parents to build confidence in their child's development and learning.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver inclusive universal and targeted support for families with children under five who have SEND, disabilities or emerging additional needs.
• Provide direct support through home visits, one-to-one interventions, outreach activities and group sessions.
• Promote early identification of developmental delays and additional needs, working closely with health, early years and SEND professionals.
• Support families to access services, navigate local pathways and manage key transitions such as starting nursery or school.
• Develop and deliver practical resources, workshops and activities that support parenting, child development and positive home learning environments.

What we are looking for:

You will have an NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent) in Early Years, Health, Social Care, Family Support or a related field, or relevant experience, along with experience supporting children with SEND, disabilities and/or additional needs. You'll have a good understanding of child development, safeguarding and multi-agency working, with excellent communication, organisational and IT skills. A full driving licence and the ability to travel across Hertfordshire are essential. Experience of home visiting, delivering family support, additional SEND training, and knowledge of local SEND pathways and Family Hub services would be an advantage.

If you're passionate about supporting children and families to achieve the best possible outcomes, we'd love to hear from you. Apply today to join our dedicated team and help make a real difference to the lives of families across Hertfordshire.

This is a Fixed term contact until March 2029

Hours per week: 37.5

Working Pattern: Monday- Friday 9am-5pm

Important information:

We do not provide visa sponsorship; you must be eligible to work in the UK. You must reside in the UK for the duration of your employment and provide Right to Work evidence.

As some of our roles involve working with vulnerable members of society, this position may require a Basic or Enhanced Criminal Disclosure, which will be conducted once a conditional offer is made

Previous Applications: We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. However, if you have applied for a similar role within the last 6 months and were not successful, please consider whether your experience has developed further before reapplying

Accessibility & Adjustments: We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and will strive to be as accommodating as possible. Please inform us in advance of any arrangements you may need to fully participate in the process.

We are an inclusive organisation and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We do not discriminate on the basis of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy/Maternity, Race, Religion/Belief, Sex and/or Sexual Orientation. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities, and industries, and are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences, and abilities.

One YMCA and its subsidiaries, the Early Childhood Partnership (ECP) and Signpost are on an exciting journey to double our impact by 2025. We are over half way through an exciting new strategy launched in the first hour of the new decade, via email where all staff and volunteers were invited to put themselves forward to apply and attend an intensive, three-day Kickstarter Event.

By the end of these three days, there was a brilliantly multi-faceted set of themes and ideas, which formed the starting point for the rest of the Mission 25 process to build on. The aim of Mission 25 is to give every staff member and volunteer the opportunity to play their part in shaping the strategy to do “more and better, together” so that we double our impact by 2025. We deliver a vast array of services across Herts, Beds and Bucks that reach over 135,000 individuals annually.

These include:

• Provision of over 700 units of accommodation for homeless people
• Move on accommodation for individuals moving onto independent living
• Housing and practical/emotional support for young asylum seekers
• Community HUBs hosting a range of activities and meeting space hire
• Childcare provision in Hertfordshire
• Family support through a network of children’s and family centres covering Hertfordshire and Bedford
• Therapeutic and non-therapeutic support for male and female victims of domestic abuse and their children
• Independent sexual violence services across Bedfordshire, Luton and Hertfordshire
• Domestic abuse perpetrator reform programmes across Bedfordshire
• Youth services offering emotional wellbeing support and youth club opportunities for 11-19 year olds alongside our National Airplay programme funded by the RAF Benevolent Fund
• A community gym where everyone can enjoy the benefits of physical exercise Our values remain at the forefront of how we operate as a charity, and it is important to us that all staff and volunteers can fully buy in to our ethos.