Neurodiversity Support Manager

NEURODIVERSITY SUPPORT MANAGER

G4S Care & Rehabilitation Services</span>

HMP Oakwood, Wolverhampton, WV10 7QD

Salary £41,818.46 per annum

Permanent, Full Time, 40 hours per week

Benefits:  Company Pension, free on-site parking, on-site canteen, ongoing training and development and access to High Street Shop discounts.

HMP Oakwood is an innovative prison which has been highlighted by HM Inspectorate of Prisons as an “Impressive institution, with a culture of decency and respect. Driven by courageous leadership, excellent peer-led initiatives and outstanding management of learning and skills provisions”.

Within Care and Rehabilitation Services, the philosophy of our prisons is to rehabilitate offenders and equip them to re-integrate into mainstream society on release. We seek to normalise prison conditions as far as possible to reflect life in the outside community. Our aim is to create an environment in which staff and prisoners feel safe and causes of prison stress are minimised. Central to our philosophy is the relationship between staff and prisoners. Our training and operational practices emphasise the need to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and G4S staff build positive and supportive relationships with the prisoners in their care. HMP Oakwood is one of the largest prisons in England and Wales, providing places for up to approximately 2100 Category C male prisoners.

We now have an opportunity for a Neurodiversity Support Manager to join our team at HMP Oakwood who will be responsible for leading on support for prison residents with needs arising from neurodivergence.

Developing and implementing, through close collaboration with stakeholders, a “whole system” principle is of paramount importance, with the focus firmly on supporting individuals to achieve and progress through Education, Skill and Work pathways throughout their sentence.  The Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM) will liaise with the Learning and Skills Manager (LSM) and the education provider to ensure prisoners are supported, whether engaged with education or not, and that they continue to be supported in the community, including by the probation teams. 

Providing support and guidance to ensure that all staff and stakeholders share the same vision and ethos of Neurodiversity.

The post holder will ensure that actions across education, skills and work (ESW) within their prison support a whole prison improvement approach which supports wider improvements across the estate.

Some of the key responsibilities are:

• Focus on improving and ensuring that the quality of neurodiversity support and provision across ESW is at least good and moving towards outstanding. This is to include assessment of quality to inform the prison education, skills and work improvement plan which can be applied across various learning channels, e.g. classroom, industries, work areas, workshops, gym etc.
• Develop and maintain Neurodiversity needs strategy for the prison, incorporating and working with key stakeholders. This should include as a minimum: Curriculum and Learning Progression lead, LSM, Head of Reducing Reoffending (HoRR), Provider education and/or curriculum managers (including regional leads), Employment lead, New Futures Network (NFN) broker, Prison Work Coach, Head of Offender Management Unit, libraries, Information Advice and Guidance (IAG), activities, gym, industries manager, key worker
• Develop and maintain the systems and structures to ensure that delivery of all Education, Skills and Work activity is appropriate to all cohorts. Recommend and test related solutions leading into an improvement plan. Working with Senior Management Team (SMT) to implement, maintain, invest and update it as necessary.
• Manage the collection and collating Neurodivergent data at local level. Continually analyse and evaluate current practice for how neurodiversity provision is tailored to the needs of a wide range of prisoners, including those who are hard to reach, vulnerable prisoners, and those for whom English is not their first language.
• Track the progress of prisoners with neurodiversity in education, learning and work (including kitchen, horticulture, waste management industries/workshops, wing work and orderly/peer roles), analyse data and identify any participation and achievement gaps and address these.
• Case manage prisoners who require additional support to ensure it is both appropriate and helpful. Ensuring individual prisoners’ neurodiversity related information is shared, appropriately and lawfully, with relevant prison teams. E.g. PEF, IAG, LSM, Health Care
• Ensure that the needs of neurodiverse prisoners are considered in terms of availability of activities, appropriate adaptations and reasonable adjustment as required and sufficient places by working with the LSM, activities and industries managers.
• Raise awareness of Neurodiversity in the prison. Upskilling workforce to support a whole prison approach to supporting prisoners with neurodivergence using full staff briefings, internal communications and 1-2-1 processes but the list of opportunity is not exhaustive.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Essential Skills

• Experience of operating in a specialist neurodiversity role.
• Experience of working within the Special Educational Needs / Additional Learning Needs and Disabilities field.
• Detailed knowledge of OFSTED/Estyn’s EIF (Education Inspection Framework) and further education and skills criteria.
• Substantial teaching experience that has developed a range of strategies for developing accessible and appropriate resources to match the specific learning needs of individuals / cohorts of learner.
• History of developing highly effective partnerships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Worked in a complex multi-agency operational setting to achieve mutual outcomes.
• Experience of setting goals and achieving targets.
• Experience of implementing change, preferably within an educational setting.
• Evidence of innovation and impact in an educational context.

Desirable Skills

• Level 4 TAQA qualifications in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes or equivalent, Level 7 Diploma in Assessing and Teaching Learners with Dyslexia, Specific Learning Differences and Barriers to Literacy
• PGCE, Cert Ed or Level 5 in Education and Training.
• Level 4 Certificate in supporting the learning of learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)/ Additional Learning Needs (ALN).
• Alternatively; Extensive relevant work experience of working with Neurodiverse learners in a custodial setting.

If you join us, you can be sure that you’ll find a secure, friendly and professional working environment and be given all the support, training and encouragement you need to build and develop a successful career with us.

For more information about HMP Oakwood please visit https://hmpoakwood.co.uk/

Equality and Diversity is an important part of G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds and are a fully inclusive employer who aims to support all employees to be their true selves. We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments for either the role or during the recruitment process

G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of children and adults at risk and each employee is expected to support these goals.

Please note that these vacancies are subject to a 5 year checkable history and the strict vetting standards set by G4S and the Secretary of State for the Home Office and are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. 

You must be eligible to work in the UK and you will need to provide full details of your employment and education history for the last 5 years as part of the security screening process for this role.

G4S is the International business of Allied Universal, the world’s leading security and facility services provider and trusted partner to more than 400 of the Fortune 500. Allied Universal delivers unparalleled customer relationships, innovative solutions, cutting-edge smart technologies and tailored services that enable clients to focus on their core businesses. With operations in over 100 countries and territories, Allied Universal is the third largest private employer in North America and seventh in the world. Annual revenue is approximately $23 billion. There is no greater purpose and responsibility than serving and helping to safeguard customers, communities and people. For more information, visit g4s.com.   In the UK, the company has an extensive network of offices and more than 31,000 employees.