Early Years Community Worker

Hackney Playbus 

Hackney Playbus believes that all children under five living in East London should have the opportunity to grow, thrive, and reach their potential. Our mission is to provide play, learning, and support to socially excluded families in East London, to encourage children’s early years development, and to strengthen families and communities.

WE DO THIS BY:

• Making play and learning opportunities accessible to children aged 0-4 years old - we bring play out into the community!

• Providing a welcoming and relaxed setting where families can come together in their local community 

• Supporting parents and carers to feel confident in their knowledge and skills as a parent or carer

• Connecting families to support services

• Dedicating time and resources to outreach and community engagement

All our services are delivered in a way that is inclusive, friendly and welcoming. All services are free to attend.                

Early Years Community Worker

We are looking for an Early Years Community Worker to join our caring, creative and resourceful Hackney Playbus early years team, with additional responsibility for coordinating the staff team schedule and ensuring that appropriate resources are in place to deliver our programme. 

Together we run stay and play sessions from a bright and beautiful double-decker bus that has been converted into a mobile early years community play space. Our sessions take place both inside and outside the Playbus in different locations across Hackney, providing a rich play and learning environment for children aged 0-4yrs old and a welcoming space for their parents and carers. We listen to the needs of parents and carers and help families to access support services where needed. 

As well as our Playbus sessions, we bring our informal, welcoming approach to baby groups that we run in community settings.

Our Team and Our Approach 

We value the positive impact of difference within our organisation and want our team to reflect the diverse cultures, ethnicities, languages and experiences of the families who participate in our activities. We particularly encourage applications from people from Global Majority backgrounds, those who speak a language spoken by local communities in Hackney, and those with lived experience of bringing up children in challenging circumstances. 

We work collaboratively at Hackney Playbus, recognising that every team member has valuable life experiences, skills and interests to contribute to the project. We learn from one another and value each other’s insights and opinions. We work collectively as far as possible to share decision-making as well as the workload, supporting each other to develop and grow within our roles.   

Main duties and responsibilities:

Staff scheduling

• Coordinating the staff team schedule to ensure all sessions are appropriately staffed, taking into account booked annual leave

• Arranging cover for absent staff, both planned and at short notice

• Covering sessions for other members of the team to enable all team members time to take part in outreach activities, training, planning, project development, admin and meetings  

Play Provision

• To assist in the planning and delivery of play opportunities in a safe and stimulating environment, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum

• To acquire resources as necessary within the budget available to maintain an enabling environment for children’s learning and development, ensuring that all equipment is safe, appropriate, well maintained and stored

• Promote the use of low cost, free or recycled materials to ensure that activities demonstrated can be replicated in the home environment and on a low budget

• To create stimulating play spaces to support children’s learning and development, including lifting play equipment on and off the Playbus as required, and/or setting up equipment in community hall settings

• To supervise and support children in their play during sessions both on and off the Playbus, or in group settings at community venues 

• To assist with the cleaning and tidying of the Playbus, venues, and of Hackney Playbus resources

Working with Parents and Carers

• To provide a warm, welcoming and nurturing space for parents and carers, whether on the Playbus, in group venues, or in other community settings

• To model ways of playing and interacting with children, including promoting play-at-home ideas

• To encourage parents and carers to share their experiences with each other and to value their own knowledge and experience as a parent or carer

• To develop positive relationships with parents and carers and support them in their knowledge and understanding of their child’s learning and development

Signposting and Referrals

• To become familiar with support services available both locally and nationally for families, including Hackney Children and Family Hub provision

• To listen to parents and carers’ concerns and signpost or refer them to relevant support services

• To observe children and identify where additional support from external services may be required

• To promote programmes and opportunities that benefit families in line with Hackney Playbus aims and objectives

• To ensure leaflets and information displays are up-to-date and accessible on the Playbus and in other venues where we work

Outreach

• From time to time to participate in outreach activities such as door-knocking, leafleting and pop-up play events

• To actively support inclusion by identifying any barriers that families face in accessing our services and working to overcome these barriers together with the Hackney Playbus team

Monitoring and Evaluation 

• To complete registration forms, attendance records and sessional report forms. These may be in paper form or digital. 

• To carry out and write up observations related to the charitable aims of Hackney Playbus

• To be aware of the aims and outcomes of specific projects when writing session reports  

• To be willing to assist the Co-Directors in reporting on outcomes

• To assist in gathering feedback from parents, carers and children

General

• To support Hackney Playbus’s commitment to safeguarding children in all aspects of the organisation’s work

• To be friendly and welcoming to all families and to work hard to make every Hackney Playbus experience a positive one for both child and adult

• To promote and deliver a fair and quality service which is sensitive and responsive to all families using Hackney Playbus services

• To attend and participate in team meetings and supervision

• To be willing to attend training and to take an interest in your own learning and development

• To undertake other tasks to support our projects, as agreed with the team 

• To abide by Health and Safety, Child Protection and other legal requirements associated with providing play on and off the Hackney Playbus and in community settings