House Parent (Residential)

Who is InvestIN?

InvestIN Education is a dynamic educational start-up that provides inspirational career experience programmes for school students. Founded in 2012, InvestIN’s mission is to bridge the gap between school and the workplace, in order to help students choose the right career and maximise their potential.

InvestIN creates the ‘ultimate career experience’ through a combination of interactive simulations, site visits, seminars, networking sessions and career coaching, led by highly accomplished industry professionals. We have had over 50,000 students from 100+ countries and 4,000+ schools attend our online and in-person programmes, including our premium Summer Experiences, where students join us for 1 or 2 week immersive experiences across 15 fields and undertake exciting site visits whilst working with industry leaders and building an understanding of their dream career.

InvestIN has a growing international reach, with 45% of our students joining us from countries abroad, including China, USA, Romania and many more. Around 40% of our students stay with us in our central London accommodation, enjoying our exciting social programme and additional opportunities to network with their peers.  

Why work with us?

InvestIN is an exciting, fast-paced and supportive environment, and working with us as part of our summer pastoral team is a fantastic opportunity to extend your experience of young people’s pastoral care and safeguarding, along with building a strong foundation for more senior pastoral boarding school roles.

Our comprehensive training programme includes a variety of internal and external training, including:

-         Bespoke internal Safeguarding training

-         Safeguarding Young People Level 1

-         FGM, Prevent, KCSIE 2023

-         First Aid qualification

-         Mental Health First Aid

-         Youth Mental Health course

-         SEND course

-         Fire safety

We also support our team throughout summer with regular check ins and staff socials.

The Role

Our House Parents will play an integral role in the safeguarding and pastoral well-being of the students in our care. House Parents will be responsive and reactive, acting as a first point of call for Safeguarding concerns throughout their shifts. They will manage a team of 4-6 Pastoral and Activity Leaders (PALs), each PAL caring for approximately 25 students. House Parents will be ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety and enjoyment of all students under their care.

Key Duties:

-         Safeguarding:

o  Act as a point of contact for all students across a 24-hour provision, providing support, intervention and advice relating to health, safety and wellbeing. 

o  Triage all concerns from Pastoral Activity Leaders, offering support and advice in instances of Safeguarding concerns, bullying or other issues

o  Support on external site visits, escorting students to venues where applicable and providing Safeguarding support on key programme days

o  Monitor the emergency telephone & inbox, managing the communication between InvestIN & parents regarding student’s behaviour, safety and wellbeing.

o  Monitor and report on the wellbeing of students in your care, including ensuring the implementation of individual risk assessments for students with additional needs

o  Act as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer

o  Spend one night per week on-call for emergency situations

o  Maintain up-to-date records on all InvestIN’s reporting platforms 

-         Behaviour Management:

o  Oversee and have a positive impact on the overall residential experience including completing hourly dorm checks, managing student expectations and behaviour against our Behaviour Matrix, continually risk assess the safety of the facilities and communicating any hazards or risks to the University of London team.

o  Conduct behaviour management meetings and facilitateing Individual Behaviour Plans with any students who have been given warnings

-         Management of Pastoral Staff:

o  Directly manage 4 – 6 PALs, advising on Safeguarding and other pastoral care and reporting back to the Centre Manager

o  Run daily evening meetings with your PALs, facilitating any handovers or follow-ups where necessary

o  Attend regular handover meetings with Centre Manager

o  Cover handover periods for PALs

o  Support PALs in their responsibilities of delivering InvestIN’s social programme

-         Other:

o  Understand and act in accordance with InvestIN’s ethos and cultural values (set out below)

o  Adhere to InvestIN’s safeguarding policy and staff/student Code of Conduct procedures and practices.

o  Undertake mandatory safeguarding and child protection training and other professional development activities to ensure that you remain compliant in meeting InvestIN’s duty of care in safeguarding practice. (KCSIE 2023)

Please note this list is indicative rather than exhaustive, and you may be required to take on additional responsibilities to ensure the well-being of students in your care.  

What would a normal day look like?

While the reactive nature of this role means responsibilities may look different day-to-day, a typical day might include:

·      Checking in informally with your assigned PALS in the morning, ensuring any relevant information about students in their group has been handed over

·      Facilitating Behaviour Management Meetings

·      Support with students leaving on time for programmes (escorted by PALs)

·      Attending programme sessions to support with safeguarding and pastoral support on more challenging days (e.g. Psychology trip to Bethlem Hospital)

·      Regular monitoring of communication channels both internally and with parents

·      Responsive and reactive problem solving

·      Running daily meetings with your assigned PALS, facilitating the communication of any concerns to relevant parties, offering advice with any issues and supporting PALS in carrying out their role confidently and successfully

A sample week may look like the table below:

Monday 10am - 7pm

Tuesday 5pm – 2am, 2am – 8am on call

Wednesday DAY OFF

Thursday 8am – 6pm for programme support on-site

Friday 10am – 7pm

Saturday 10am – 7pm

Sunday 10am – 7pm

Please note this is in draft form and may be subject to change.

Person specification

You are an experienced professional with a genuine passion for working with and encouraging young people. You are enthusiastic, committed, and passionate about young people's health, wellbeing and safety and believe in strong fair and clear boundaries. You have a genuine interest and skill in safeguarding young people and understand and can connect to today’s young communities and the issues they may face.

Experience:

·      Experience of working in pastoral care for young people (e.g. working in schools, childcare, youth work, after-school clubs, paediatric healthcare) (essential)

·      Experience of working in fast-paced environments (essential)

·      Experience of Safeguarding young people (essential)

·      Experience of working in a residential boarding setting (desirable)

·      Experience of work with 12-18 year olds (desirable)

·      Experience of supporting SEND students (essential)

You have, and can demonstrate, the following skills and interests:

·      Excellent reactive problem-solving skills

·      Calm approach

·      Proactive and high energy

·      Resilient and positive attitude

·      Able to respond quickly and accurately in an emergency

·      Innovative and solution-orientated

·      Support inclusivity and diversity, being kind and supportive in your approach

·      Have a deep understanding of what constitutes a concern and have the ability to act appropriately to safeguard and protect

·      Be reliable, punctual and an open communicator

·      Be able to adapt and adjust to the changing needs of the live events industry within a safeguarding capacity

·      A deeply-entrenched sense of personal pride in your work, and a commitment to giving students a 5* experience in every interaction

·      A deeply-invested belief in InvestIN’s sense of purpose and our programmes

·      You feel a sense of passion and belonging when you read our cultural values (set out below)

Details of role

Location: Bloomsbury, Central London

Hours: Up to 60 hours per week (you will be asked to ‘opt out’ of the 48-hour Working Time Directive)

Typical hours will be 10am – 7pm, with 1-2 late shifts per week (5pm – 2am). You will spend 1 night per week on call for emergencies, and if called out will receive TOIL. On days you are supporting with programmes on-site, flexibility with hours will be required. Please see sample week above for more details.

You will have one full day off per week.

You will accrue Annual Leave throughout your contract at a standard rate (25 days per year pro-rated)

Salary: £750 per week, plus meals and accommodation

Contract: fixed term, 7 to 10 weeks over July and August 2023

To apply: Applications open 4^th March and close midday 1^st May 2024.

Offers will be subject to successful completion of training, including Safeguarding training and DBS checks

InvestIN’s Cultural Values

Experience is Truth:

We believe that to learn is to experience. Our mission is to deliver professional experiences to young people that they would otherwise consider a far-flung fantasy. This ‘experiential learning’ appeals to all the senses and requires live in-person interaction; providing a welcome counterpoint to the restrictive and atomised environment of cyberspace.

Empowerment and Ownership:

We treat all of our students as young professionals, not simply older schoolchildren. InvestIN empowers students by thrusting them into a whirlwind of professional-life simulation, and asking them to stand up and be counted. Along with that empowerment comes the valuable lessons of responsibility. Students are expected to take ownership of their careers immediately, as we give them detailed advice about how to plant the seeds for a successful future; starting now.

Action and Urgency:

InvestIN believes that success requires both action and urgency. We have been able to grow at an exponential rate because we move ideas quickly into tangible steps forward and we execute them. InvestIN’s students refuse to be left behind and want to be able to cut through abstract procrastination; becoming empowered to act with decisiveness and urgency.

Ambition:

InvestIN is a fervent supporter of determined ambition. We believe that young people - and whole organisations - must continue to ‘think big’ in order to achieve their potential. We therefore coach our students to believe that there are no limits to their career ambitions, and give them the tools they need to thrive.

Imagination:

InvestIN is not an ordinary organisation. We create interactive simulations of professional life, which requires a commitment to using our imagination to deliver extraordinary experiences for our students. At the same time, we encourage our students to imagine themselves as young professionals now, not at some distant point in the future. We have discovered that tomorrow’s achievements are born from today’s visualisation.

Integrity:

At InvestIN, we understand the great responsibility that we take on in coaching students. Sometimes the simplest sentence or action can have a lasting impact on a young person’s life. We insist on running our operation with the highest level of integrity: from promoting the value of hard work and satisfaction over shortcuts and monetary rewards, to constantly looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Safer Recruitment, Safeguarding and EDI statement

InvestIN is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, seasonal workers, and external professionals to share this commitment.

InvestIN are committed to making our recruitment processes as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values difference, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to InvestIN’s culture.

InvestIN are a disability confident employer.

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to work with InvestIN will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of Police records via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and barring Service helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable candidates gaining access to minors or vulnerable adults.

Open Source Searching Guidance

InvestIN are committed to ensuring that we follow and implement legislation and advisories as set out in the KCSIE 2023 framework. Please see the below statement extracted from Harrison Clark Rickerbys Solicitors, regarding the updates within the KCSIE 2023 framework relating to open source searching as part of the safer recruitment process.

KCSIE 2023 states:

“… as part of the shortlisting process, schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on… shortlisted candidates. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the school or college might want to explore with the applicant at interview.” (para 220, KCSIE 2023).On the face of it, this new requirement seems relatively straightforward; however, no further guidance is set out within KCSIE, and schools will undoubtedly have questions about online searches from a practical, legal, and regulatory perspective. This note addresses those key questions.