Children play worker jobs in exeter, devon

Are you passionate about sport and physical activity and want to use this to share the good news of Jesus to children & young people across South England?

About the role 

Scripture Union England & Wales (SU) one of the UK’s longest-established children and youth ministry organisations is  working in partnership with Activate, an exciting local sport and wellbeing project, to offer this unique role to reach many more young people in the Bushy Park area and across the South of England through physical activity. 

We’re looking for a creative and entrepreneurial individual with a passion for using sport to help children and young people across the South of England to explore and respond to the good news of Jesus. 

This unique role combines the benefits of direct face-to-face engagement with young people in a local context, delivering mission through sport activities and programmes, while also developing and mentoring others to expand ministry across the South region. The ideal candidate will have equal passion and experience in both contexts. 

Key details: Employed by Scripture Union you will spend three days per week developing sports mission across London and the South. For two days per week, you will work on the Activate sports and wellbeing project working across the Bushy Park area.

Location: Home based with travel across London and the wider south region for SU & St Peter’s Church in West Molesey for Activate. 

Important things to note before you apply.  

1. This role will focus on Bushy Park, London and the South of England and will require extensive regular travel across the region.

2. We are committed to building a culturally diverse workforce. As part of this commitment, we welcome applications from people, regardless of their background.  

3. We take Safeguarding seriously. This role will require a Disclosure from the Disclosure & Barring Service and has an occupational requirement to be filled by a committed Christian, active in church life. Equality Act 2010, Part 1, Schedule 9 applies. 

A flexible role shaped around you 

The role is full-time, offering the best of both worlds by working with two partner organisations that collaborate synergistically. This position suits a candidate who enjoys face-to-face interactions with young people locally and strategic work regionally, training others for delivery. You’ll work closely with the Activate team and maintain weekly connections with the SU Sports Mission team as well as contributing to the wider work of the SU South region team. 

Who we’re looking for team

You are someone who loves variety in your work and thrives on the fact that no two days are the same. You value a blend of face-to-face interaction with children and young people through sports coaching and leading, while also adopting a facilitating approach; equipping, training, and motivating others. You enjoy being rooted in a local context but are also happy travelling and working in a range of settings. 

You’re a connector who relishes being in the community, with experience in leading teams whilst working with diverse groups of people. Your creative mindset, combined with excellent organisational skills, enables you to spot and create opportunities for impact. You love Jesus and are filled with energy and passion for sharing the gospel. You excel with people and thrive when given a blank canvas to drive projects from conception to completion. You are a confident communicator with experience in training, coaching, and empowering others. You have a passion for sport and experience in using this as a tool for sharing the gospel with children and young people. You’ve got a Level 2 coaching qualification or you’re willing to work towards one. 

If this describes you and you would like to join a like-minded organisation that offers the flexibility of an exciting, varied role, provides a competitive salary, a generous pension scheme, and other valuable benefits, then read on.

Invest in our mission, as we invest in you: Our Benefits: 

This joined-up role with Activate and Scripture Union means being part of a vibrant team dedicated to making a real, positive difference in the lives of children and young people. We’re proud to be employers that truly value and support our staff. This role offers the flexibility you need for a healthy work-life balance, alongside a competitive salary. Your benefits package includes 23 days annual leave plus bank holidays, plus an additional 5 days for volunteering at  Scripture Union events and two days for spiritual refreshment.

We offer a comprehensive group pension scheme with an employer contribution of up to 12%, as well as life insurance (death-in-service coverage). We offer generous maternity, paternity, and adoption leave benefits. You will also have access to SU’s bible notes, and the opportunity to join daily staff prayers.

About Scripture Union  

You might have heard of us before if you're one of the 1.5 million+ who have attended one of our Christian holidays or missions over the years, or maybe you're one of the 40,000+ subscribers to have used our brilliant devotionals or been stirred by our exceptional bible resources. We've been at this for a fair few years... over 150 to be precise. Over this time, we’ve remained passionate about helping children and young people develop a vibrant faith in Jesus. As our name describes, the radical power of God's word has always been central to our approach.

We still do all the great stuff with resources and holidays, but in the last few years, we have sharpened our vision with a renewed focus to help the 95% of young people (primary and secondary school age) across the UK who have never stepped foot inside a church, to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus. We do this through equipping and resourcing the local church, training up volunteers from local churches (we call them ‘Faith Guides’) and collaborating with local and national partners across the UK to connect with children and young people and support them on a journey of exploring faith in a way that is relevant and meaningful.

In the last few years we’ve developed a brand new approach to how we do this, it’s deceptively simple and incredibly effective, we call it Revealing Jesus, and its making a massive difference, in the last couple of years we’ve trained up nearly 600 faith guides across 400+ churches all over the UK, collectively we’re seeing over 50,000 young people across the UK on a journey of exploring the Christian faith and responding to an invitation to become followers of Jesus. We have 24 staff organised into four regional mission teams, and alongside our local and national partners, we’re playing our part in a network of organisations that seeks to reach children and young people in every context, across every town and city across the whole of the UK. The journey ahead is significant, and we invite you to be a part of it! 

Since 2015, SU has had a dedicated Mission Through Sport team which contributes directly towards this outreach to the 95. We have recently developed some innovative new resources, aligned with the RJ framework, which the post holder will be involved in both delivering and equipping others to utilise. These include our flagship programme called Holy Ground which empowers churches to adopt a local sports space in their community to connect with the 95 in their context. Half Time is our brand new Explore-Respond resource which uses sports-themed videos and fun games to help the 95 to explore the life of Jesus by journeying through Mark’s Gospel. 

About Activate 

Activate is a sport and physical activity-based programme, formed in 2018, seeking to build community through wellbeing that invigorates faith.  Activate seeks to release God’s people to join in his mission through sport and physical activity in the areas surrounding Bushy Park. This includes gathering, encouraging and empowering local Christians involved in sports ministry, including expressions of chaplaincy and missional communities centred around sports clubs, centres, educational settings and gyms.  A number of local churches across denominations and Dioceses have been supporters of the project. 

In the past Activate has supported sports projects in local schools, an activity-based church service, wellbeing cafe sessions, exercise sessions for the elderly and youth activities.  The successful candidate will be involved in re-launching Activate’s mission after a break due to staff changes. 

About your team

With this role, you will have the benefit of being part of a national-focused sports team at SU, as well as the south team with a regional focus and the local context with Activate. You’ll work out of the office of St Peter’s Church, West Molesey, benefiting from the support of a local parish-based team including clergy and youth workers. You’ll contribute your expertise in a variety of settings, ranging from urban and suburban to coastal and rural areas across the south. You’ll have a brilliant time getting acquainted with this rich tapestry of local and national partners. Across the south region, we currently work with 130 churches and have 150 faith guides. We’d like to see these numbers grow significantly over the next few years and believe that a vibrant sports ministry can contribute meaningfully to this. 

Interview date: 11th September 2025 

Interview location: St Peter’s Church, West Molesey

* (CONTRACT) Funding is in place for year one and partly secured for year two. We are confident that through the development of innovate partnerships via the Activate role, including within the church of England, the funds can be generated to not only fulfil the two initial years but also beyond that to ensure longevity in this vital mission. We invite interested applicants to contact Mark Oliver, Sports Mission Team Leader at Scripture Union, for an informal conversation.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the friendly, dynamic, multi-disciplinary team at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) as our new Policy and Communications Assistant. This is an important role within the CSA Centre, central to our ambition to raise awareness of the true scale and nature of sexual abuse and to drive evidence-informed improvements in policy and practice.

About the role:The CSA Centre aims to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response, and our work in influencing and shaping policy and communications at local, regional and national level is key to that mission.

As our Policy and Communications Assistant, you will play an important role in supporting the CSA Centre's policy and communications activity over the immediate and longer term, helping our evidence, learning and resources to have the widest possible reach and impact at both local and national level.

We are looking for a motivated person keen to learn and to build their skills and experience in a policy and communication role. This is an extremely diverse job, supporting all aspects of the CSA Centre's busy and impactful policy and communications functions, from assisting in the production and design of digital content for our website, social media channels and newsletter, to helping us respond to emerging trends in policy and practice. It would be a great opportunity for someone looking to broaden their experience and expertise across a wide range of different workstreams - no two days are the same in this role!

As Policy and Communications Assistant at the CSA Centre you will play a key role in tackling child sexual abuse, alongside the work of our colleagues across practice, research, policy, communications and training. This is important work - the CSA Centre conservatively estimates that one in ten children will experience some form of child sexual abuse before age of 16, and our ambitious programme seeks to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals (social workers, teachers, social workers, nurses etc.) in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done – and we need your help to do it!

This role is currently funded until 31 March 2026, in line with the current grant funding arrangements for the CSA Centre. This will be reviewed in late 2025, as future funding for the CSA Centre from 2026/27 onwards is clarified.

Although this contract has a permanent status, please be aware that this post is subject to funding currently until March 2026 and therefore should this funding not be extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement. This contract is due to expire on 31.03.26.

About us

We are the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre). Our aim is to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. To tackle child sexual abuse we must better understand its causes, scope, scale and impact.

First established in 2017, we are a multi-disciplinary team that is funded by the Home Office, hosted by Barnardo's and we work closely with key partners from academic institutions, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. We're proudly independent and our team will challenge any barriers, assumptions, taboos and ways of working that prevent us from increasing our understanding and improving our approach to child sexual abuse.

We bring about change by:

• Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
• Using that evidence and insight to challenge and improve existing policy and practice, develop new approaches and increase everyone's knowledge and confidence to more effectively tackle the issue.

This role is home-based with regular travel required, usually to London.

The CSA Centre acknowledges that tackling child sexual abuse can feel challenging but is incredibly rewarding and positive when actively making change. Our open working environment ensures that there is support for all employees, across the team and with access to a therapist, if needed. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of this further.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Location: Work from home or at our HQ in Gilwell Park, London (hybrid) 
Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2028
Salary: 

• £37,800 (Home-based - Band F, Level 3) 

• £39,560 (Gilwell-based, Band F, Level 3 includes London Weighting) 

Hours: 35 hours per week 

At Scouts, we believe every young person deserves the opportunity to develop skills for life. Our Growth & Communities team plays a key role in making that happen – helping the movement to grow, supporting volunteers nationwide, and creating the conditions for Scouting to thrive.

We’re looking for a Growth Support Executive – Extending Reach (Muslim Communities) to join our dynamic Growth Support Team and help deliver some of our most important priorities over the next two years. This role is funded by the Islamic Relief UK and the Muslim Scout Fellowship (MSF), and is a unique opportunity to lead our work growing Scouting in Muslim communities across the UK and within the British Scouting Overseas network.

What you’ll do:

• Lead on developing and delivering an annual plan to grow Scouting in Muslim communities – opening new provision and strengthening existing groups.
• Act as the key liaison and subject matter expert for Muslim Scouting, building strong relationships with volunteers, regional teams, and partners.
• Support the opening and sustainability of new sections, especially in Early Years (Squirrels) and reversing decline in Beavers and Cubs.
• Work with colleagues to transform growth resources – from website content to webinars – making them more effective, inclusive, and culturally competent.
• Build cultural understanding across the organisation, working closely with the Muslim Scout Fellowship UK Support Team to create practical tools and resources.
• Use data, insights, and community feedback to shape strategies, ensuring our growth is sustainable and inclusive.

Who we’re looking for:
You’ll be an experienced relationship-builder with strong cultural awareness, particularly of Muslim communities in the UK. You’ll understand the challenges and opportunities of community engagement, have a knack for creating practical solutions, and be confident working in partnership with both staff and volunteers.

This is more than a growth role – it’s about making a lasting difference, ensuring Scouting is representative, inclusive, and accessible for every young person.

If you’re ready to help us extend our reach, strengthen communities, and inspire the next generation, we’d love to hear from you.

Benefits:

• We are an award-winning Charity of the Year (Charity Times Awards 2022) with over 400 employees across multiple locations across the country.
• 28 days holiday and going up to 32 days after 2 years’ service plus additional days at Christmas
• Work in a way that suits you, your role and your department
• Double matching pension up to 10% of gross salary

For a full list of our benefits click .

Closing date for applications: 11:59 pm Wednesday 10 September 2025

Interview: Monday 22 September 2025

Strictly no agencies. 

The Scouts is an equal opportunities employer and we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute. We offer flexible working arrangements to support diverse needs and lifestyles, ensuring that our teams can thrive both professionally and personally. We welcome and encourage applicants from all walks of life, believing that varied perspectives strengthen our innovation and community. Your unique experiences and ideas are essential to our success, and we look forward to hearing from all voices.

About the role

This is a fixed-term opportunity for an experienced Charity Shop Manager to join our team at our Exeter-based charity.

This new role will combine providing support and/or absence cover to our existing shops, along with getting involved in other opportunities for growth and development across the retail team (e.g. volunteering). Working in the shops may involve working to support the shop manager, or stepping in for them at short notice (and quickly getting to grips with their shop, processes, staff, volunteers and customers). This will be balanced according to business needs.

The nature of this role means that you will need to be capable of both leading or being part of a team consisting of shop assistants and volunteers.

There will also be times when you will be working on your own or with our Head of Retail and Enterprise at our Exeter base. The most important thing is that you will be helping us to achieve and exceed business targets for sales, growth and profits.

You will be based either at one of our charity shops, or at our main base in Exeter (to be discussed at interview).

About you

We’re looking for someone with prior management experience in charity retail, and demonstrable knowledge of the sector and its challenges. You will be self-motivated, commercially aware with a creative eye for displays, and constantly seeking new business opportunities. You will be comfortable with both acting as shop manager, and supporting the existing shop team, depending on the situation.

You will have excellent interpersonal, communication and customer care skills and be a person who motivates their team and creates a safe and energetic working environment.

There is a need to travel to different shops in Exeter and East Devon (depending on business needs) so a driving licence and willingness to drive InFocus vehicles is important.