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Children's social worker Practice Development Hub
We’re committed to our children’s social work and targeted early help workforce and want to ensure that you have the knowledge, skills and tools to undertake your role. Through our Practice Development Hub we're proud to provide tailored support and guidance to practitioners at all levels in Barnsley.
Inductions
When you start your career with us, you'll have a two-day induction, covering all the corporate and service specific need to knows, to help you settle into your new role.
Mentoring and support
Throughout your time with us as a practitioner or manager, you can receive one to one support, coaching and mentoring around specific pieces of work or areas of practice. We're also available to offer on the spot support as needed.
Training
As part of our continuous professional development offer, we've a robust training and development offer. This includes face to face workshops, online learning and tailored training for all our practitioners and managers. We also host bi-monthly development forums, celebrating best practice and including speakers who are experts in their area of practice.
We work closely with services to understand your training needs and this alongside our learning from Quality Assurance service enables us to provide a tailored and varied offer.
Practice guidance
To help you in your day-to-day role we've a dedicated intranet site. This includes good practice examples, tools and guidance, policies and practice standards which are regularly updated.
Our Practice Development Hub offers consistent support and guidance to all our social workers at all levels and experience throughout their careers with us.
Social work academy
The Barnsley Social Work Academy is delivered by the team in the Practice Development Hub.
The academy provides a high-quality and consistent programme of learning and development tailored for children’s social workers who are:
- students on placement
- social workers at the beginning of their careers, including newly qualified social workers during their assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE)
- apprentice social workers
- staff who are mentoring and supporting others
2025 has seen us build on the success of our first social work academy, with a further two intakes of newly qualified social workers and apprentices into our academy this year.
As a member of our social work academy you'll receive support with:
- wellbeing and resilience
- career development
- equity, diversity and inclusion
- good practice and learning from feedback
- training, workshops and development
As part of our offer we also provide a supportive four-week induction process for those new to social work. This helps the students, apprentices and newly qualified social workers joining us to develop the skills and knowledge they need to confidently get started in their role.
Stories from our members
Read some of the stories of our current academy members to find out why a career with us was the right choice for them.
Stories from our members
Read some of the stories of our current academy members to find out why a career at Barnsley Council was the right choice for them.
Jess' story
“I completed my final university placement with Barnsley Council, and felt fully supported and welcomed by the team and all the staff."
“When I first started my placement, I felt nervous at the thought of being a newly-qualified social worker, but everyone at the council helped me to feel at ease and eager to succeed. That’s why I wanted to come back to Barnsley to start my social work career after finishing my qualification. I'm confident about the support being provided and the opportunities to build confidence through the Practice Development Hub."
“As a newly-qualified social worker, my first twelve months will be an assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE), and during this time I’ll be joining the Social Work Academy. The academy has a four-week induction period which influenced my decision to come back to Barnsley as this time will allow me to develop skills, knowledge, and access support in preparation for my first year as a newly qualified social worker."
“Barnsley Council have helped me to achieve my university degree thanks to the thorough support during placement. I hope to give back by working out in the community supporting our children and families."
“I'm really looking forward to being a part of the first Social Work Academy at Barnsley!”
Yasmin's story
“My name is Yasmin, and I have recently completed my final 100-day university placement within the Children’s Assessment Team. My experience at Barnsley Council was extremely positive and has motivated me to pursue a career here."
“I successfully applied for a Newly Qualified Social Worker post and am due to start in September. My decision to return to Barnsley was partly influenced by the support I received from the Practice Development Hub. I’ve experienced first-hand what support is offered through the hub and feel confident that this will continue to help me develop as I progress during my assessed and supported year in employment."
“A variety of learning opportunities, including group supervision, meeting external partners, and training, were made possible by the hub and were beneficial to my development on both a personal and professional level."
“There was regular group supervision which was something I found to be most effective. The scheduled meetings created a sense of ‘team’ and allowed us to form positive relationships where we felt comfortable sharing our honest feelings and experiences whilst navigating our placement. The designated team were also extremely supportive, whenever I had any concerns or questions there was also a member of the team willing to help.”
