Careers
At Apple Orchard, we are committed to making a meaningful impact on the lives of adolescent males with complex needs.
Our therapeutic homes provide a supportive, carefully structured environment where young people can heal, grow, and prepare for the next steps in life. We believe every young person deserves a safe, caring space in which to address past traumas and develop healthier patterns for the future.
Working at Apple Orchard means joining a compassionate, multidisciplinary team dedicated to nurturing genuine, transformative relationships. Our Care, Education, and Therapy staff collaborate using evidence-based models such as the Good Lives Model, Family Therapy, Individual and Group Therapy, and our ICON outreach services . Whether you’re an experienced practitioner or just beginning your journey in therapeutic care, you’ll find opportunities to grow professionally and contribute to well‑designed care plans that empower each young person.
Our setting combines the tranquillity of rural Surrey and Sussex locations with close‑by town amenities — ideal for providing both safety and a sense of real‑world community. Orchard House also serves as our headquarters, housing our management, education, and therapy teams, and acting as a hub for assessment and referral.
If you’re eager to make a tangible difference in the lives of young people through high‑quality, therapeutic residential care, Apple Orchard offers an environment where your skills and compassion can truly shine.
Here’s what we offer to our valued team members:
Discounts with over 740 retailers, including:
Become a Residential Support Worker
Up to £30,768.80 per annum (includes sleep in shifts) plus benefits
Our Residential Support Workers are caring, resilient, and dedicated to making a difference in the lives of young people. The role can be demanding and emotionally challenging, as we support boys with complex needs and histories of trauma. But it’s also deeply rewarding, with daily opportunities to build trust, celebrate progress, and be a positive role model.
Working within our therapeutic community, you’ll be guided by our relational and trauma-informed approach, helping each young person feel safe, valued, and supported. Our teams are warm, committed, and work closely with each other to provide consistent, nurturing care.
We have vacancies across our homes in Sussex and Surrey. If you’re patient, empathetic, and ready to be part of a purposeful team, we’d love to hear from you.
Find out more
Looking for Registered Manager, Deputy Manager, Senior Support Worker Roles or vacancies at our school?
View all current vacancies
Part of the Polaris Community
As one of the largest providers of children’s services and the very first provider of independent fostering in the UK, our community of services span the length and breadth of the whole of the UK.
We provide an extensive range of children’s services, which have grown and developed over our 30+ year history to ensure we can support children across a wide range of needs. By combining our community’s wide scale of services, as well as our local links, we’re transforming the future of children and children’s services.
The Polaris Community has a united commitment to measure and maximise our social value; defining it as ‘The positive emotional, environmental and economic impact we have on the Polaris community and wider society’. This includes opportunities we offer staff and our children and young people, but also how we work with suppliers, create job and training opportunities and our impact on the environment.
About Us
At Apple Orchard, we provide a nurturing, therapeutic environment where young people aged 12–18 can thrive. We are a specialist residential care and education provider offering a highly structured and supportive setting tailored to meet the complex needs of each individual in our care.
Our School
At Apple Orchard School we believe in creating a culture where the boys within in our care arrive every day with a sense of pride and worth.
Our Homes
Apple Orchard currently have four homes located in Surrey and Sussex, they are ideally located in rural areas which are close to large towns in order to provide both the seclusion and safety of a countryside location and the amenities of larger towns.