Come and join a dynamic, growing organisation that recognises that YOU are the difference that makes a positive impact every day on the lives of children, young people and their families.

We are seeking a strategic and forward-thinking Family Links Lead to take a lead role in supporting children and families across Lochaber, strengthening partnerships with local services, coordinating effective support, and driving improved outcomes for families and communities.

Applicants must live within reasonable commuting distance of Lochaber and hold a full, clean driving licence with access to a car for work purposes.

Qualifications: Educated to relevant degree level or equivalent and/or relevant professional experience

Place of work: Hybrid – mixture of working from home (equipment provided) and associated schools, with an expectation of frequent travel within Lochaber and, occasionally, to Inverness and across Highland to fulfil aspects of the role – travel allowance provided

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order 2013 and the Amendment Order 2023.

The successful applicant will be required to become a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme & register with the SSSC.

Join our Board. Shape brighter childhoods. 

Care and Learning Alliance (CALA) - Highland's largest independent childcare provider - is growing - and we're looking for new Trustees to help shape what comes next.

As one of Scotland's leading third sector providers, we support children, families and the childcare workforce across Highland, Moray and beyond - championing rural and island communities and making the case for childcare as essential infrastructure - while our wide range of family support and play services provide inclusive opportunities for children and families to learn and play together.

As a Trustee, you'll help set our direction, strengthen our governance and champion better outcomes for children and families.

You don't need previous board experience - we provide full induction, training and support. What matters is curiosity, sound judgement and a commitment to our values.

We'd especially love to hear from people with experience in:

• Finance or accountancy
• HR and people management
• AI, data governance or cyber security
• Estates or facilities management

The commitment: a voluntary role, four Board meetings a year plus strategy days, with a three-year term.

Are you passionate about children’s rights, evidence and storytelling? Early Years Scotland is seeking an Evaluation and Storytelling Officer to help us understand, capture and share the difference our work makes to children and families across Scotland, and to give our teams and our funders the evidence and stories that show what that difference really looks like.

This is an exciting new role for Early Years Scotland. You will design a children’s rights-aligned impact framework, produce evaluation reports across our services, and develop age-appropriate ways to capture the voices of the children and families we support. You will also lead a transformation of how we tell our story across our website and social media and work closely with our Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising to capture and turn family stories, quotes and evidence into material that strengthens funding applications and corporate partnership pitches.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and embed a children’s rights-aligned impact measurement framework across EYS services, mapping our outcomes to articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Develop simple, consistent tools for recording outcomes, participant feedback and service stories that work alongside frontline teams rather than creating extra burden for them.
• Produce evaluation reports for EYS services across our early years, family support, prison-based, and membership services.
• Develop and apply age-appropriate, participatory methods to capture the voices of children and families, so that even our youngest participants have a meaningful role in how EYS understands and communicates its impact.
• Audit and transform EYS’s approach to storytelling across our website and social media, moving from ad hoc communication to a strategic, evidence-led approach.
• Build a bank of compelling family stories, quotes and case studies, working directly with families and children to shape and voice that narrative with dignity, sensitivity and accuracy.
• Work closely with the Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising, providing case studies, quotes and evaluation evidence to strengthen funding applications and support corporate partnership pitches.
• Develop family stories specifically designed to support fundraising, helping EYS build new relationships with donors.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience of monitoring, evaluation or impact measurement, ideally within a charity, early years or family support setting.
• A confident, sensitive storyteller, able to gather and write compelling family stories and case studies with care and accuracy.
• An understanding of the UNCRC and Scottish Government child and family-based policy, or a willingness to learn and apply a children’s rights-based approach.
• Skill in developing simple, practical tools that frontline teams will actually use.
• Excellent written communication skills, comfortable adapting tone and content for funders, social media and web audiences.
• Confidence engaging directly with children and families, including in sensitive settings such as our prison-based family services.
• Strong organisational skills, able to manage multiple services and deadlines.
• A collaborative approach, able to work closely with the Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising, extended management team and across frontline teams.

What Early Years Scotland will offer

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

• Relevant qualifications and equivalent professional experience will be considered for this role.

Are you passionate about using your skills to support a cause that makes a real difference? Early Years Scotland is seeking an experienced Family Engagement Practitioners to join our amazing staff team delivering our family wellbeing services across West Central Scotland.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

Key Responsibilities

Family Engagement Practitioners (FEPs) with Early Years Scotland (EYS) have a unique, exciting role within the early years sector. An EYS Family Engagement Practitioner has responsibility for providing support and promoting parental engagement and a whole family wellbeing service through the adoption of a multi-agency collaborative approach.

Our EYS staff team work together with children and families on a continual basis, across a variety of settings within communities with a focus on enriching and enhancing parental skills and capacity to improve, strengthen and maximise:

• positive attachments and relationships between parents/carers and children
• early literacy and communication skills
• shared interactions and approaches to learning
• cost-free, enriching and nurturing home learning environments
• healthy living approaches
• support for entitlements
• meaningful transitions

You will be fully involved in shaping, developing, and evaluating our programmes and innovative shared play and learning sessions you deliver.

What Early Years Scotland will offer

EYS will likewise invest in you, providing regular and supported professional learning and experience opportunities that will enhance your career profile, develop your skills and knowledge in creative and unique ways and inspire your practice in new and exciting ways!

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

Applicants’ qualifications must be consistent with those required to register as a Practitioner with SSSC, e.g.:

• HNC Childhood Practice at SCQF Level 7
• SVQ Social Services (Children and Young People) at SCQF Level 7
• Additional ELC qualifications welcomed

PVG Scheme membership will be required.