Visits Services Play Worker

Nepacs is looking for caring and creative Play Workers to join our Visits Services team at HMP Holme House. 

You’ll help provide a safe, welcoming and fun environment for children visiting loved ones in prison, delivering play activities and ensuring the play areas are clean, well-stocked and child-friendly.

To provide a responsive service for children visiting prison, within the visitors’ centre, visits hall and during family visits sessions.
 

Responsibilities

• To work closely with the Team Leader and prison colleagues to offer the best possible experience for children visiting prison.
• To recruit, train and support suitable volunteers to supervise the day to day running of the children’s play area within the visitors centre and visits hall.
• To ensure that there are suitable toys and play activities available for children – and that they are kept clean and replaced as required.
• To manage a budget for play equipment and craft materials, and contribute towards fundraising for additional materials if required.
• To keep accurate records of numbers of children participating in all sessions and ensure that appropriate evaluation of special visits sessions is carried out and recorded on Nepacs’ case management system.
• To plan and deliver special visits sessions, including working with the Team Leader and Youth Workers, as required, to encourage referrals, develop a plan for activities and ensure additional resources are in place to create a positive experience for children and their families
• To liaise closely with the Team Leader and Family Workers if they are working to provide more in-depth support for a particular child / family (for example to support a last contact visit prior to adoption proceedings taking place).
• To support the Team Leader to deliver other aspects of the centre’s work (e.g. booking in visitors or tea bar) if required.
• To implement Nepacs’ policies, and in particular, to take a lead for Child Safeguarding issues at the centre (working in collaboration with Nepacs’ Safeguarding lead)
• To attend regular supervision sessions and undertake training as required.
 

Teamwork

Whilst the above list of key responsibilities relates to this specific role, Nepacs’ impact and effectiveness relies on a huge team effort. 

Teamwork lies at the heart of everything we do and so whilst you will be working day to day within your local team of co-workers, you will also be working with those from the wider Nepacs team be that in a specific region/across support functions or across Nepacs as well as colleagues from other organisations.

Whatever the role and wherever it is located, all of our staff need to be able to work effectively in teams:

• Be flexible in your approach recognising the need to support between services both within your own team and across Nepacs
• Listening actively, trusting others, taking responsibility for mistakes, and sharing the credit when things go well
• Being open to other people's ideas and points of view, willing to act on feedback and confident to give feedback to others, as well as challenging where appropriate for the good of the team
• Being aware of what others are working on and offering help and support, where possible
• Actively sharing knowledge, experience, time and talents
• Being clear on actions that are agreed, committed to taking those actions forward as agreed, and prepared to hold others to account for their actions.

We need someone who:

•    Has experience working with children and planning age-appropriate activities
•    Understands child development, safeguarding and child protection
•    Is flexible, organised and a great team player
•    Is comfortable working in sensitive environments with children and families
•    Can commit to early evening and weekend working

Please note: This role is subject to enhanced DBS and prison security checks.