Early Help Advisor

The purpose of the Early Help Advisor role is to work as part of a team to provide advice, training and support to early years registered providers in Somerset and to improve the early help offer to children and families, improving outcomes for children and families. This role will be working term time, 32 hours per week.

Main duties for the Early Help Advisor role:

• Provide individual and clusters of Early Years settings and childminders advice, guidance and support on Early Help and how to work effectively with children and families including children who have English as an additional language, narrowing the gap between EAL learners and their peers.
• Provide training and learning opportunities for registered early years providers and other partners to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence in working with children and families that have concerns or need advice.
• Provide information, advice, guidance and practical support to develop inclusive and effective early year's environments that support quality relationships between staff, parents and children.
• Work in partnership with relevant agencies to promote the consideration of the needs of children and families in all relevant services and strategies looking at how access to services can be improved for this group of children and their families.
• Developing and encouraging peer to peer support in relation to Early Help and to embed best practice within the County that is shared and disseminated.
• Identify, disseminate and facilitate the sharing of good practice in relation to meeting the needs of children and families in Somerset, seeking to utilise the wealth of experience within Somerset as well as bring national best practice into Somerset.
• Promote the service to settings across the County to ensure they are aware of the services available to support children and families. Working collaboratively with other services who support children and families to make best use of scarce resources.
• To use effective monitoring and tracking systems for this project to ensure the project makes an impact on individual and cohorts of children.
• To contribute to the development of appropriate resources and information about resources which can be shared with Somerset settings to support them working effectively with children and families.
• Work collaboratively to promote and celebrate good practice, demonstrating a commitment to quality in all they do. Where necessary have the confidence to challenge poor practice which does not achieve good outcomes for children and families.
• Develop your expertise and keep up to date with best practice so registered providers can utilise those skills and knowledge in the role, modelling best practice to settings.
• Work in a flexible and responsive way to emerging issues. Be willing to lead and support specific focused pieces of work or projects as appropriate.
• Any other tasks that are commensurate with the level and scope of the role as directed by the Line Manager.

Essential criteria:

• Possess a NVQ 3 in childcare or equivalent as a minimum.
• Maths and English GCSE or equivalent.
• Demonstrable understanding of the Somerset Early Help strategy and EYFS 2025.
• Current knowledge of issues of policy, practice and research in relation to the needs of children and how they can best be supported within the settings, utilising a range of strategies to support them.
• Demonstrable understanding of effective ways to facilitate learning.
• Knowledge of recent developments in learning /teaching.
• Working in a similar role or working within a setting which demonstrates best practice in relation to Early Help including the needs of EAL children.
• Proven experience of providing advice and guidance to settings or of mentoring and supporting other settings as a practitioner, helping them develop inclusive practice and effective early years environments.
• Experience of self-evaluation within a setting or settings and/or experience of supporting settings to self-evaluate and/or evaluation techniques.
• Experience of working with parents in support of the needs of their children and in particular engaging parents that are less easy to engage.
• Networking and building effective relationships.
• Highly developed communication skills using a variety of media, including report writing, workshop delivery and action plans.
• Highly organised, able to use time effectively with the ability to motivate, persuade and influence.
• Sound professional judgement based on an ability to analyse and evaluate and provide appropriate advice.
• Able to plan and manage own workload, prioritise and work with minimal direction.
• Excellent IT skills - able to use Microsoft Office suite of programmes or similar.
• Ability to create systems for monitoring and evaluating services and using data effectively to focus on tasks which are most effective.

Employee benefits:

• 25 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, pro rata for part time employees
• Additional annual leave for long service
• Enhanced sickness pay
• Employer and employee contribution pension scheme
• Birthday leave so you can have a day off for your birthday dedicated to you and your well being
• Regular access to internal and external learning and development opportunities
• A Recruitment Referral Payment Scheme, giving you an introductory payment of up to £300 if someone you have referred to the Alliance takes up a role in the charity.
• Access to our Employee Assistant Programme (EAP), which includes 24/7 helpline access, dedicated managers helpline, confidential counselling sessions delivered by accredited specialists, legal, debt and life management advice, discounts, and wellbeing content plus resources.
• Savings of up to 25% on O2 Refresh Airtime Plan on any new phone or tablets
• A dedicated mental health First Aider to support your mental well being

The Early Years Advisor will receive £683.89 p.a. Essential Car User Allowance in addition to their salary.

This is a fixed term post until August 2027

Hours per week: 32

Weeks per year: 39