• Developing a 14-19 strategy and commissioning provision according to learner needs.
• The Youth Service (incorporating the arts-based project, Connecting Youth Culture) providing a wide range of social, recreational and educational experiences for young people mainly in the 13-19 age range.
• Integrated Youth Support (incorporating the provision of Integrated Advice and Guidance and more Targeted Youth Support for those young people aged 13-19 who need it most.
• An Education Social Work Service helping children, young people and their families with matters of concern to them particularly around school attendance and any safeguarding issues.
• Parent Support Advisers who provide a link between home and school for children, young people and parents who would benefit from additional support.
• Work around Community Cohesion and Social Inclusion including support for young people who are homeless or suffering from the impact of domestic abuse.
• Support to develop opportunities for play for younger children and involvement in Positive Activities for older young people.
• Arrangements to encourage children and young people to get more involved in decisions that affect them and in helping to shape services to them.

In addition, we run an Adult Learning Service which provides a full range of opportunities for personal, social and professional development (including some Family learning).

Chris McGee
Assistant director - learning youth and skills

Active engagement and positive activities

Within the Active Engagement and Positive Activities unit, we work with a wide range of people to promote and develop increased participation of children and young people in the services they access. We have effective links to the work of the North Yorkshire Children's Trust's Voice, Influence and Participation (VIP) Group and share a strong and passionate desire to see children and young people have a greater say and influence.

The unit also coordinates positive activities (all educational or leisure activities which are not school curriculum based) and promotes opportunities for positive activities though our website www.gimi.co.uk. Positive Activities includes Play and the unit is involved in developing integrated links and strategies to bring together all those involved in Play. This is especially exciting as the Play agenda moves towards more naturalistic play and building risk back into activities.

All areas of work offer a wide range of challenges and opportunities to work with and for children and young people in either a developing specialist role or opening doors to opportunities in other parts of the Service.

The adult learning and skills service

Following a staffing review of the Adult Learning Service, the service has recently been restructured to ensure we meet the priorities of the new Skills Funding Agency (previously the Learning and Skills Council). As of 1st May 2010, the service is now known as the Adult Learning and Skills Service.

The service is primarily funded by the Skills Funding Agency (previously the Learning and Skills Council) and in addition to meeting the priorities of the County Council and the needs of local communities we need to ensure that we meet the priorities set out by the Skills Funding Agency in order to secure future financial support.

We offer learning opportunities to some 9,500 learners in 243 venues across the whole of the County. The courses we provide include formal accredited further education qualifications, 'softer' accredited courses which would lead on to further learning and informal learning which could be leisure or health based.

The service has seven main area bases across the County. Each base has an Area Adult Learning Manager and a team of administration and delivery staff, and receives specialist support from area based Learning and Skills Advisors, Skills for Life and Family Learning Coordinators and Supported Learning Coordinators. Each area also has a Quality Improvement Officer to ensure a consistent approach across the service. There is also a team of staff based at County Hall and here we have Officers, specialist managers and the finance team, as well as the Employment Engagement team who work County wide to coordinate work with employers including the County Council.

Integrated youth support team

Being part of our Integrated Youth Support team within the Learning, Youth and Skills service group in NYCC we welcome your skills to engage with and inspire young people from 11 to 19 - or 25 when we are supporting young people with learning difficulties or disabilities - to help them make the right personal, educational and career choices to maximise their potential.

The responsibilities of the team include: 

• To provide information, advice and guidance in all localities
• To implement Targeted Youth Support in the form of co-ordinated early intervention to help vulnerable young people
• To reduce the number of children and young people not in education, employment or training
• To reduce the number of young people becoming first time entrants into the criminal justice system
• To reduce the number of teenage pregnancies across the county
• To support schools and colleges in providing information, advice and guidance and careers education
• To provide management information data to inform planning and performance

Our team works in partnership with many other services across North Yorkshire within various youth venues, including our 6 Integrated Youth Support hubs which are based in Northallerton, Pickering, Scarborough, Selby, Harrogate and Skipton. The job roles within our team are dynamic and varied. For example, our Connexions service provides impartial information, advice and guidance to help young people make the transition to adult life. A key focus of our work is supporting unemployed young people to get them back into education, work and training. Our Youth Justice Service prevention teams are committed to preventing youth offending and helping young people to achieve positive outcomes in their lives.

Working within our team you can be creative in engaging young people, you will get satisfaction from supporting colleagues as well as benefiting from others' support, and you will make a real difference to young people's lives.

How do we do this? We have practitioners who have common core skills when working with young people. These include:

• knowing how to develop rapport
• being able to inspire young people to take positive steps forward
• knowing how to safeguard and appropriately share information to help young people
• understanding multi agency working

In addition, staff develop specialisms to support young people with the range of issues they face. This might include:

• helping young people make sense of the range of education, training and employment options
• encouraging participation in positive youth activities
• providing support for those struggling with substance misuse or mental health issues
• providing sexual health information and advice

Staff might come to us already with an Information, Advice and Guidance or Learning Development and Support Services NVQ award, or a counselling, teaching, social work or other similar qualification. For those starting as trainees we offer opportunities to complete an NVQ award in Information, Advice and Guidance or Learning, Development and Support Services. We also offer internal training to all staff, whatever their previous training and experience, as we are committed to lifelong learning and development.

The aims within the "Every Child Matters" green paper guide our work. We are always endeavouring to help young people to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve in their life and make a positive contribution so that they can aspire to economic wellbeing.

The education social work service

The Education Social Work Service provides a range of support services to children and young people, parents/carers and schools in order to ensure that all children are able to benefit from access to appropriate education.

The team includes Education Social Workers, Welfare Officers, Home School Support Workers and Parent Support Advisers based in schools. The focus of their work includes; the promotion of high levels of school attendance, support to schools to safeguard children, early intervention and support for parents and carers whose children are experiencing difficulties.

Parenting support is also provided to the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community and parents and carers of children from minority ethnic families through a dedicated team.

The support provided to families often features direct work with parents and carers, including both individual support and the delivery of parenting programmes.

The Service also hosts the Parent Partnership Team which provides specialist independent advice to parents/carers of children with special educational needs. Parent Partnership Coordinators also provide support to parents and carers who are seeking advice or experiencing difficulties choosing an appropriate school.

The teams are based in many schools, and also in Children and Young People's Service offices around the County to allow for integrated working with other agencies at a local level.

The mixture of qualified and experienced staff, with recently developed parent support posts, has created a positive blend of support and innovation. Whilst a number of staff have social work qualifications, there are opportunities for staff with less experience to receive induction support and training whilst in post. Most recently appointed staff will complete training which fits with the Children's Workforce Development Council guidelines.

The 4Youth service

4Youth is a service for young people in North Yorkshire between 13 and 19 years old, or up to age 25 if the young person has a disability or learning difficulty. We provide a range of informal social and recreational learning opportunities for young people. These include arts-based, sporting, volunteering and outdoor education activities across the county.

The responsibilities of the team currently include: 

• To encourage young people aged 13-19 to participate in activities, projects and volunteering
• To provide drop-in services in local settings (throughout the week, including evenings and holidays)
• To provide both universal (open to all young people) and targeted services and activities (focused on particular groups such as young people with learning disabilities or those not in education, employment or training)
• To promote awareness of and support young people in matters that concern them including sexual health, substance misuse and bullying
• To support Youth Work Apprentices  
• To organise universal arts events such as our Cultureshock Festival and local Aftershock Festivals
• To support at least one Youth Council per area and the North Yorkshire County Youth Council 
• To coordination the delivery of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme
• To manage the Youth Opportunity Fund & Youth Capital Fund

For information on the range of activities that we offer for young people visit our 'Gimi' site.

To join our team of qualified youth workers you need to be passionate about working directly with young people and able to motivate, inspire and engage them. We offer a range of training opportunities for both our paid staff and volunteers, ranging from introductory e-learning courses on working with young people to NVQs and courses that lead to a nationally recognised qualification. For more information on training opportunities please see the National Youth Agency website and ABC awards website.

For information on responsibilities and career progression  please see this document [28kb] [pdf].

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