School Navigator

**About Us**:
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF SHOFA’S MARKET

Children’s Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where courageous and inspiring professionals bring everything to their work.

Sometimes this even includes heartbreak. Shofa is a shining example. Shofa’s brother suffered with his mental health and died tragically young. She uses his memory as motivation to give Westminster Youth Council members the opportunity to have a voice and get involved in decision-making. This passion resulted in her innovation: The Westminster Youth Market. Here local teenagers learn about entrepreneurship and develop their personal skills. This is an inclusive platform where everyone’s contribution and abilities are celebrated. Inspired by a promising life cut short, Shofa believes without vision there is no direction and every young person should be supported to realise their dreams.

Please view the extraordinary story of Shofa’s Market here.

**The Role**:
As a School Navigator within our School Inclusion team, you can make your own powerful contribution to the life chances of local children by improving relationships between families and schools. We have four newly created roles - three in mainstream primary schools and one focused mainly on alternative provision. You’ll provide direct intervention for children and families, often engaging at points of crisis and enabling longer-term support before there is a real risk of exclusion.

You’ll take a creative and flexible approach, working with children and families in schools, in their homes and in other community settings. You will ensure schools and families understand what services are available and that they engage successfully with them. Since the families we work with face multiple challenges and disadvantages, we use a wide range of approaches and you will receive full support and training in areas such as trauma-informed perspectives and systemic family therapy.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information

**About You**:
Creative and empathic, you have a commitment to helping all children achieve their potential. You will have experience of family support in a paid or voluntary capacity, along with a good understanding of child development and well-being. With strong interpersonal and communication skills, you’ll be capable of building rapport with families in challenging circumstances and will also have good insights into the issues affecting schools. Good written and spoken English is important, while knowledge of a second community language would be helpful. You will require an enhanced DBS check.

**What We Offer**:
Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster.

Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.