Residential Care and Education Support Worker - Linn Moor Campus

VSA is a well-respected local social care charity, helping support the people of Aberdeen for over 150 years.

Our mission is to provide the best of care to enable the best of lives; supporting individuals and communities to fulfil their potential.

VSA provides vital support and services to people of all ages.  At VSA we support a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing through a range of residential and outreach support Services.

Working in social care is a hugely rewarding career, and you can help change the lives of vulnerable children and adults. At VSA, we are looking for motivated and compassionate individuals to join our team.

VSA have an exciting opportunity available to join our Linn Moor Campus as a Residential Care and Education Support Worker based in Peterculter. This will be a full-time permanent position and in return, you will receive a competitive salary and benefits.

Hours:   39 hours per week

Rota:     4 week rolling rota where you will be required to work a variety of shifts including early/evening and weekend shifts.

Salary: £9.75 p.h

We offer our Residential Care and Education Support Worker fantastic benefits including:

- Competitive Salary

- Generous Holidays

- Sick Pay Scheme

- NEST Pension Scheme

- Refer a friend scheme

- Ongoing professional development

Linn Moor Campus is a unique multi-generational approach to community-based care for individuals with learning disabilities and other additional support needs, in a residential setting. The campus its self is situated on beautiful grounds allowing our service users the freedom to enjoy the outdoors. With UK wide recognition for our pioneering work with people with autism, our focus is on the development of meaningful life skills and personal fulfilment for the children and young adults we support. If successful you would be joining a large team of enthusiastic support workers with a wealth of experience from all different backgrounds.

Working across both the Education and Care services at our Linn Moor Campus, you will help to provide a quality service to meet the needs of our students with additional support needs. An SCQF Level 7 in Social Services and Healthcare (or equivalent) and an HNC in Social Care would be beneficial but it is not essential at this stage (although you must be willing to work towards this or the Level 9 Residential Childcare Qualification). Ideally you should have some experience of working with children and/or young adults with autism / learning difficulties and have the ability to engage/relate to them through effective communication skills and the ability to deal with complex and challenging behaviour. You must be willing to work flexibly in both care and education settings, recognising that a different skill set is required and appropriate in each to support the child/young person in their physical, psychological and emotional development.

We have an enthusiastic, dedicated, welcoming and supportive environment at our Linn Moor campus.  If you are interested in working somewhere where you can truly make a difference, this could be the opportunity for you.

We welcome applications from those who would like the opportunity to work within social care or those simply seeking a change of direction.

In return for your hard work, commitment and positive approach, not only will you receive a huge amount of job satisfaction, we also offer a competitive annual salary, paid holidays and continuous professional development. VSA also operate a bus service that can take you to and from our Linn Moor Campus at scheduled times.

Successful applicants will be required to join the PVG Scheme; however VSA will cover any associated costs.

Main Duties/Responsibilities:

• You will be required to work across the care and education services at the school. Both services have core and specialised approaches that you will be required to follow as set out in VSA and Linn Moor policies and procedures and VSA, Linn Moor and regulated and statutory standards. 

• Always work in a child centred way and contribute to the effective provision of a nurturing and positive culture that meets the care and educational needs of the children/young people.
• To be part of creating a happy, safe and caring team and environment which enables children/young people to learn new knowledge and skills and communicate with confidence.
• Work flexibly in care and education settings, recognising that a different skill set is required and appropriate in each to support the child/young person in their physical, psychological and emotional development.
• Recognise that children/young people have a legal right to an appropriate and well provided education commensurate with their developmental and communication needs and for growth that is flexible, nurturing and supportive. 
• We expect the support worker to work under the direction of the teacher and develop knowledge of current Scottish educational policy frameworks including the Curriculum for Excellence, How Good is my School and specific documentation for ASN schools. 
• We strive to meet these requirements in order to fulfil education standards.
• The support worker will understand and promote the principals of GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child)

In order to facilitate the transport of staff to and from our Linn Moor campus, VSA operates a staff bus in both the morning and evening.