In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We’ve set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan – Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

Start Well Early Years Practitioners are a central part of the Children’s Centre services in the borough. We are looking an experienced Early Years Practitioner to help us continue to grow and develop the service, but supporting families in those early years to grow in confidence and resilience and ensure that children are ready to start school.

You will plan, design, deliver and evaluate sessions across the borough to support families to understand more about child development, being healthy, parenting support and what being ready for school really means. You will work from across the borough and offer services to families in their community and in places that they want to meet.

This is an exciting and busy role that changes to meet the needs of the families in the community. No two days are the same!

Children’s centres are part of the Early Intervention Service in the borough. It is an exciting time to join our team as we move towards Family hubs and joining services to best support families at the earliest possible stage. We work closely with Health services, voluntary sector and parents to shape and design services that meet families needs.

Our work is part of the boroughs Helping Early Strategy to provide the right support at the right time, to help children achieve the following outcomes

• have better health and well-being
• access help and support at the earliest opportunity
• feel ready for school, work and life have more stability at home
• thrive

We have a core set of values that inform the way we work with families and each other.

Kindness, Respect, Trust, Non-Judgement, Reliability

About You

We are looking for someone who will be a skilled and enthusiastic and qualified early years practitioner with experience of working in a diverse community, with parents and professionals. You will need to have a good understanding of the importance of the Early Years and all the factors that support children to have the best start in life.

But you will also need to be:

• an excellent listener and communicator.
• be able to think creatively and help families find the solutions to problems, through talking and reflecting with them.
• be willing to give things a go, learn from mistakes and cope with change.
• be able to challenge circumstances and environments that marginalise, exclude or oppress
• Demonstrate critical reflection and a desire to keep learning.
• Be able to work and model the key values we hold as a service

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across – however big or small – will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve – the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.