Senior Residential Support Worker, Fern Lodge

The senior practitioner on shift at our four bed Leiston home: leading the shift, holding key work for individual young people, and modelling the standard of care for the team.

Here at Able Health Care
, we put children at the heart of everything we do. We run three registered children's homes across Suffolk, Liberty Lodge in Ipswich, Fern Lodge in Leiston and Oak Tree House in Sudbury, with further homes in active development as part of a planned expansion.

Every home is built on the same foundation:
consistent leadership, a therapeutic culture and management stability
. We invest in permanent staff, keep agency use to a minimum, and promote from within
: our current Operations Managers were appointed from inside the group.

Every appointment is made under safer recruitment procedures, including an enhanced DBS check. We aren't just filling shifts; we are looking for dedicated, empathetic people ready to bring their hearts to work and make a lasting difference.

Fern Lodge is a four bed children's home in Leiston, Suffolk, supporting young people aged 9 to 18 with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It was judged Good in all three areas at its most recent full Ofsted inspection in September 2025.

The Senior Residential Support Worker is the senior practitioner on shift. You lead the shift, model the standard of care you expect from others, and carry direct key work responsibility for individual young people. In a home this size that role matters: there is no gap between the decisions you make and the outcome for the child in front of you.

This is a role for an experienced residential worker ready to take responsibility for how a shift runs, not simply to work within it.

Full time, 40 hours per week. Permanent. Your hourly rate depends on experience and qualification.

Safer recruitment

Able Health Care is committed to safer recruitment and to safeguarding the children and young people in our care to the highest standard. All appointments are made using robust recruitment procedures, including an enhanced DBS check with a check of the children's barred list, full employment history, and satisfactory references. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 under the Exceptions Order 1975.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds and are committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

• Leading the shift: allocating tasks, setting the tone of the home, and holding the team to Able Health Care's standards of practice
• Acting as key worker for allocated young people, building trusted relationships and delivering planned key work sessions
• Contributing to placement plans, risk assessments and behaviour support plans, and ensuring they are followed in practice
• Responding to incidents calmly and proportionately, prioritising de-escalation, and completing accurate, timely records
• Managing missing from home episodes in line with procedure, including notifications, return interviews and safety planning
• Supporting young people with education, health appointments, independence skills and activities in and outside the home
• Administering and recording medication in line with policy
• Supervising and coaching less experienced colleagues on shift, including new starters during induction
• Maintaining daily logs and children's records to a consistently high standard, ready for regulatory scrutiny at any time
• Deputising for the Deputy Manager on shift where required

• A minimum of two years' experience in residential childcare or a closely related setting working with children and young people
• A Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare, or willingness to complete it…