Bookbus Assistant/Driver

Do you love books? Are you a confident driver with a passion for books? Do you enjoy working with children? Join us as a Bookbus Assistant within the Libraries service and #BeTheDifference in West Sussex County Council.

With a starting salary of £20,812, a term time only contract, great pension and plus a wide range of flexible working options, there’s never been a better time to join!

The Bookbus service provides a book loan and information service for early years staff, story time sessions for groups of under-fives and time for children to make individual choices for stories shared one-to-one with adults.

For more information about working in one of our West Sussex Libraries, watch this short video: library recruitment animation video and why not explore our West Sussex Libraries website?

Your day-to-day role will be supporting the Bookbus Service. This will range from:

• Managing the workload during visits, facilitating the book lending, shelving books.
• Reading to groups of children, answering early years staff enquires and maintain a safe environment on the mobile library for all visitors.
• It’s an active role! you will be driving, carrying books, taking books from the library to stock the bus, moving around the vehicle and supporting children on the bus.
• Collecting the Bookbus from the depot in Drayton and driving to various nurseries /pre-schools, returning it to the depot in the afternoon.
• Work alongside the Bookbus Co-ordinator to share stories and rhymes with small groups of children and on a 1:1 basis.

A full job description is attached at the bottom of the advert.

Salary: £20,812 to £21,189 per annum (pro rata for part time) £10.79 to £10.98 per hour
Working Pattern: Part time (17 hours per week) Term Time Only
Contract Length: Fixed Term Contract until 31 March 2024
Location: Based at Library Headquarters, Power Place, 23 Terminus Road, Chichester, PO19 8UJ with requirement to drive across Worthing/Littlehampton/Bognor/Rural Chichester area

Are you looking for more hours alongside this role? Quote CPP00718 on your application. We have a part time Library Assistant vacancy available at Library Headquarters. Find out more here: http://emea3.mrted.ly/3d2wl

Benefits & Rewards

Why choose us as your next employer? We care about wellbeing, allowing time for celebrating our teams efforts, and developing our team to be the best they can be. Alongside this, we also offer the below benefits.

• An excellent local government pension scheme
• A range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• Maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• Volunteering opportunities
• Training and development opportunities, including coaching, mentoring and apprenticeships
• A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders, Wellbeing Hub and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our /jobs/rewards-and-benefits/">Rewards and Benefits page.

Key Skills:

Qualifications and/or experience:

• 4 GCSEs with A-C passes including Maths and English or equivalent qualification/experience is required.
• Full clean driving licence with C1 category and excellent driving skills.
• Experience of driving a bookbus or similar sized vehicle, such as a large transit van or equivalent, holding a Certificate of Professional Competence (Drivers) (CPC). Desirable (Postholder must be willing to undertake CPC training, within 6 months of employment, if it is not a qualification currently held.)
• Evidence of working with children and young people through previous work experience.
• Experience of providing a service giving basic advice and guidance.
• Understanding of wider library services and their importance for children and families.
• Requirement for Category C1 on driving licence

The reference number for this role is CPP00728 .

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Kim Tucker at kim.tucker@westsussex.gov.uk

For an informal conversation regarding the application process, please contact Rosa Siracusa (Resourcing Advisor) at Rosa.Siracusa@westsussex.gov.uk

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk

To apply, upload your CV and Expression of Interest explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to satisfactory references, an enhanced DBS check and health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please visit our website.

RSi