Do you want to be part of something life changing, helping families reconnect. and build brighter futures if so we are recruiting for Visits Play Facilitator/ Nursery Nurse.
Now, we’re looking for passionate, child focused individuals to join our team at HMP Millsike the UK’s newest, most progressive, and first ‘green’ prison. Due to open in early 2025 and run by Mitie Care and Custody for the Ministry of Justice, Millsike represents a new era in prison design, culture and rehabilitation. Forward Trust is proud to be a strategic delivery partner, providing a range of Connections Services designed to restore relationships, improve wellbeing and support personal growth.
Role Responsibilities
As a Prison Visits Play Facilitator, you will play a crucial role in creating a safe, engaging, and nurturing environment for children visiting loved ones in custody. Your work will help ease the emotional strain of prison visits and promote meaningful family connections, supporting long-term rehabilitation and stronger relationships.
This is more than a childcare role it’s a chance to make a real difference in the lives of families affected by the criminal justice system.
Key Responsibilities
- Plan, set up and lead engaging, age appropriate play activities during prison visit sessions.
- Provide emotional support to children and help them navigate the visit experience.
- Create a welcoming, inclusive and safe play space that supports positive family interaction.
- Work collaboratively with Family and Relationship Practitioners to design play sessions tailored to individual family needs.
- Encourage and facilitate child prisoner interaction that supports parent child bonding.
- Assist with family events and special visits, bringing creativity and compassion to every session.
- Ensure all activities meet HMP Millsike’s safety and security protocols
All Prison based roles will require enhanced DBS and HMPPS security vetting. Please note this process can take up to 3-12 weeks. All offers are subject to receiving both HMPPS vetting and DBS clearances.
Checks will require you to provide information on the below:
- Yourself (personal information, financial information, police information, criminal history)
- Your family (parents, parents’ partners, siblings, partner(s), children)
- Co-residents
- Associations that may cause a conflict of interest with your role or the prison service.
- Background checks across police information systems on you, your family and other associates
- Credit reference checks
- Social media and Open-Source checks (these are checks on content about you that's publicly available on the internet to ensure there's nothing linked to you that could undermine public trust and confidence in the prison service)
- Other government and overseas agency or police checks.
The Ideal Candidate
We are looking for someone with the following skills knowledge and experience below to come join us for this role.
- Experience working with children, particularly in stressful or unusual environments
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with proven ability to work sensitively with diverse groups
- Ability to handle sensitive situations /information with discretion and professionalism
- Previous experience working in child advocacy or related role
- Previous experience of developing and implementing service improvements.
- Skilled in communication, presenting, data, written and verbal.
- Working knowledge of using Microsoft Office packages /digital systems.
- Experience of working in prison visits centres or equivalent environments.
- Experience of databases, including overseeing the collection, recording and collating of information, including statistical data, for audit, research and reporting purposes.
- A positive problem-solving approach with the ability to focus on key issues quickly and clearly.
- Flexibility to meet the needs of the service as it develops.
- The ability to engage effectively with the client group, as applicable.
- Experience of partnership working with colleagues and external agencies