Thank you for taking the time and interest to explore the opportunity to become Strategic Lead for Adolescent Safeguarding and Family Support. With strong outcomes for children and young people, Royal Greenwich is a great place to grow up, work and visit.
At the Royal Borough of Greenwich, we believe children should enjoy their childhoods, and we are determined to apply child-centred best practice in everything that we do. We are proud of Our Children and Young People's Plan and Good - OFSTED rating for the Inspection of children’s social care services.
Our vision for Greenwich is that we want all children and young people in Greenwich to experience a safe, healthy and happy childhood where they enjoy family life and school and feel a part of the community. Our partnership plan aims to ensure every child growing up in Greenwich will begin, continue to develop and move into adulthood well.
This is a critical position for all our children and young people, and particularly our most vulnerable children.
If you are interested in applying, please take a look at the further information below.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Florence Kroll, Director for Children’s Services
The Opportunity
This is an exciting opportunity and a role which impacts every community across our borough. We want to build on our partnership working with children, families, and external partners including the community and voluntary sector to achieve excellence for every child together. We believe that the development of a sustainable and self-improving adolescent safeguarding system, including youth justice and whole-family support is key to success in this area.
The post holder will be responsible for further developing an already well-performing Youth Justice and Family and Adolescent Support Service. Additionally, the post holder will lead on establishing and embedding the development of a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary adolescent safeguarding service.
Delivering success through integrated provision and partnerships will take considerable skill and leadership capability and there is a great ambition from Royal Greenwich and its partners to seize the opportunities that this presents. The post holder will work closely with elected Members, various departments of the Council, including Housing and Safer Communities and statutory partners such as health, education and police, alongside other agencies from the community and voluntary sector and commissioned providers. ensuring that Greenwich is a place where every child and young person has a great chance to succeed and where children and families are safe, healthy and thrive.
What difference can you make?
We want you to champion the delivery of our aspirations for all our children, especially our most vulnerable. We are proud of our early help and preventative services and firmly believe that we should continue to invest in our communities as early as possible to achieve sustainable change. We have a solid response to adolescent safeguarding in the borough but have an ambition to establish a new multi-agency service that operates in line with the whole family approach and contextual/community safeguarding principles. We want you to lead the development and embedment of this exciting agenda.
This is a system leadership role and therefore whether you are improving services, taking forward high-quality provision or shaping innovative responses, your mission will be to change lives, improve outcomes and help make Royal Greenwich a great place to live, learn and grow.
About you
We are relentlessly ambitious for our children and young people, particularly our most vulnerable, with a clear focus on safeguarding, prevention and inclusion. This is a role for a candidate with a track record of leading children and family support services, youth justice and or adolescent safeguarding services and working with partners that improve outcomes. You will be adept at understanding safeguarding and risks associated with it, outcomes for children and families working in partnership with stakeholders including children, young people and families. You will have experience in management of financial and enabling resources. Bringing a deep understanding of equality and diversity together with the ethos of inclusion you will demonstrate experience of working in a complex system with political understanding and the ability to lead and develop teams and others to deliver outstanding outcomes for children. The commitment to work in partnership and foster strong, collaborative working arrangements is vital.
This is a fantastic time to join us, you will have excellent support from a Deputy Director for Children and Families Social Care as well as peers.
Please view the Job Description and Person Specification for the essential requirements for this role and address these when completing your supporting statement.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich is a vibrant area of Southeast London with a rich history and diverse culture. The town of Greenwich itself is a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to the Prime Meridian Line, Royal Observatory, and the Cutty Sark ship. In 2012, the borough was named as the first new Royal Borough for more than 80 years. We are looking to recruit social workers, who are registered with Social Work England, to join our stable and committed Children’s Services workforce. Discover more in our video below.
With excellent training and great benefits, Royal Greenwich is the ideal place to progress your social worker career. Our generous benefits package includes:
A senior leadership team who take time to know front-line staff, listen to their views and celebrate excellent work.
Small teams allowing more direct support and supervision time from your Team Leader
An innovative and aspirational Practice Academy dedicated to providing creative learning solutions and a comprehensive offer to support you to achieve your career ambitions including bursaries to undertake systemic training
Access to Research in Practice website, training and resources and new initiatives
Rota Days equating (FTE) to an additional 10 days off per year
Travel costs worth £1k+, OR essential car user car parking (close to the workplace).
Royal Greenwich Keyworker housing (after being employed for six months, subject to application and meeting criteria).
Excellent pension scheme (LGPS).
Cycle to Work Scheme.
Childcare vouchers.
Greenwich One Card gives you access to a wide range of discounts on products and services at participating local businesses, shops, cafes and restaurants. Discounted gym membership.
Opportunities to join cross-sectional staff Task and Finish groups to improve practice and procedures.
We have an ongoing commitment to supporting staff and ensuring equality and diversity in the workplace.
Staff networks and forums to support and encourage networking between staff with shared interests.
Make a difference to our children’s futures, your future and ours.