Family Support Worker
Harbour School Dorset, BH20 6NU24 days remaining to apply
Start date details
September 2026
Closing date
17 May 2026 at 9am
Date listed
23 April 2026
Job details
Job role
- Pastoral, health and welfare
- Other support roles
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Working pattern
- Full time: 37 hrs per week (8.30am-4.30pm Monday-Thursday, 8.30am-1pm Friday), Term time only. Start date – September 26
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- £28,142 – £32,061 per annum (actual salary for term time working £24,083 – £27,437)
What skills and experience we're looking for
You will thrive if you are:
- Relational and compassionate
- Calm, steady, and emotionally intelligent
- Resilient – able to sit with challenge without losing hope
- Organised and professionally rigorous
- Committed to safeguarding and inclusion
- Motivated by long-term impact, not immediate results
What the school offers its staff
- A deeply supportive team
- A culture rooted in relationships and understanding
- Strong CPD and opportunities within Southern Education Trust
- A school that values progress in all its forms
- Work that makes a lasting difference
Further information about the job
Family Support Worker – Harbour School Dorset
£28,142 – £32,061 per annum (actual salary for term time working £24,083 – £27,437) plus generous sick pay and eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme
37 hrs per week (8.30am-4.30pm Monday-Thursday, 8.30am-1pm Friday), Term time only. Start date – September 26
Some of our families don’t believe things can change.Your job is to help them see that they can.
At Harbour School Dorset, many of our children and families arrive having lost trust – in systems, in support, and sometimes in their confidence to manage things day to day.
By the time they reach us, they are not thinking about long-term plans. They are thinking about getting through the week. The morning. Sometimes just the next hour.
You know what a Family Liaison role looks like. This is not that role. This is relationships before referrals. Trust before targets. Change built slowly, carefully, alongside families – not donetothem.
We’ll be honest…
Yes – you will attend safeguarding meetings, contribute to plans, and keep detailed records.Yes – you will support attendance, complete home visits, and work with external agencies.Yes – you will deliver Early Help and run groups for parents and pupils.
But the real work is different…
It’s the parent who doesn’t answer the phone – until one day they do.The family overwhelmed by routines, behaviour, housing, everything at once.The young person who can’t make it into school – and doesn’t know why.
Progress here might look like: Opening the door to a home visit, attending a meeting, trying a new routine, coming into school for one lesson, saying, quietly, “Can you help?”, and then one day… A parent feels heard instead of judged, a child returns to school, a family asks for support – and accepts it.Things begin to change. Those moments are everything.
You’ll:
- Work in partnership with families, pupils, and staff to remove barriers to learning
- Support safeguarding processes, contributing to plans and multi-agency meetings
- Provide early help, practical support, and guidance to families
- Lead on attendance support, including home visits and action planning
- Deliver or support small-group interventions for pupils and parents
- Build strong relationships with external agencies and services
- Keep clear, accurate records and track progress over time
- This is not about quick fixes.
It’s about steady, meaningful change for the right families, at the right time.
You will thrive if you are:
- Relational and compassionate
- Calm, steady, and emotionally intelligent
- Resilient – able to sit with challenge without losing hope
- Organised and professionally rigorous
- Committed to safeguarding and inclusion
- Motivated by long-term impact, not immediate results
What we offer
- A deeply supportive team
- A culture rooted in relationships and understanding
- Strong CPD and opportunities within Southern Education Trust
- A school that values progress in all its forms
- Work that makes a lasting difference
The truth
This work is not easy. You will hold responsibility for families facing real challenges.You will step into complex situations. You will need patience, empathy, and persistence.
But when a parent trusts you, when a child walks back through the school gates, when a family begins to believe things can change –there is nothing more important than that.
If you believe every child and every family deserves support, we want to hear from you.
Closing date: 9am, 17thMay 2026
Interview date: 2ndJune 2026
Become part of our journey by completing ourSupport Staff Application Formand returning it torecruitment@southern.educationif you would like to apply please see ourFamily Support Worker Job DescriptionandHSD – Child-Protection-and-Safeguarding-Policy-2025-2026for further information. If you have any questions, please contact Isabel at the recruitment address, who will be happy to assist you.
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
Applying for the job
This job requires you to download an application form, you will be able to upload the application once complete.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
Additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Harbour School Dorset
- School type
- Free School, ages 10 to 19
- School size
- 140 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 10 to 19
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Harbour School Dorset website
- Email address
- recruitment@southern.education
Arranging a visit to Harbour School Dorset
To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email recruitment@southern.education.
School location
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