Induction and Training

Learning the Essentials

Your first five weeks with Compass will be structured to help you get to know the ins and outs of our company and our approach to childcare. Throughout your induction, you will undergo our Compass Children’s Homes training programme.

Your first week with Compass will take you through the first part of our Skills to Care training programme at one of our training venues. This week will be aimed at helping you to establish an in-depth understanding of your role and our company values and visions. Your training will cover modules such as Recording and Reporting, Health and Safety, First Aid, Risk Management, Key Working and Safer Handling of Medication.

Hands-on Learning

In your second, third and fourth weeks of your induction, your training will move to field-based learning, in one our children’s homes. You will spend the first of these weeks shadowing one of our more experienced residential staff members, developing your understanding of the day-to-day workings of our residential homes. In the following weeks, you will work in the residential home under our new worker shift pattern, allowing you to take a more-hands on approach to your learning and training.

Skills to Care

In the fifth week of your induction, you will take a break from your work in the residential home to complete the second part of our Skills to Care training programme. This week will continue to develop the knowledge and skills you will have picked up throughout your training so far. Modules in this rotation of training will include Legislation Awareness, Safeguarding 360 and Attachment. This week will also see you undergo our PRICE accredited ‘Behaviour Management’ and ‘Holistic approach to intervention’ modules.

Ready to Start

By the sixth week, you will have participated in all the training necessary to become fully compliant with our Residential Support Worker training policy for one year. In this week, you will return to the residential home and enter a full shift pattern alongside your Compass Children’s Homes colleagues.

Please note that depending on your start date, the first week of your 5 week induction may swap with the second week and you will be shadowing within the home on the first week and completing your Skills to Care training on the second week.

­­Empowering Our Colleagues Through Learning

At Compass, ongoing training and learning is an integral part of our culture. All our colleagues participate in an extensive training and learning programme that begins from the moment they join us and continues throughout their employment. Our training is embedded with our unique REACH therapeutic philosophy, which ensures that child-centred approaches remain at the heart of all learning.

Our induction process provides employees with the opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge in a wide range of areas, ranging from safeguarding training to PRICE accredited behavioural support training, to a CACHE accredited Level 3 Diploma in residential childcare. Our comprehensive training ensures that all our colleagues are empowered with the education necessary to understand and manage the complex needs of the children in our care, all the while gaining vital qualifications to further their professional career.

Each Compass Children’s Home also has a bespoke therapeutic learning package, available for all colleagues. These are produced by our partners at New Ways Safeguarding and delivered by our in-house Programme Psychologists. The training is relevant to each home’s specialism, and includes topics such as attachment, childhood trauma, therapeutic play and sensory processing.

We take a blended approach to training, mixing classroom learning with video facilitation and online courses, helping us cater to all learning preferences. Our training is also regularly reviewed by our experienced residential trainers to ensure all information and strategies are relevant and up to date.

We believe you will find our training opportunities interesting, challenging, and practical for supporting the children we care for.