Education Jobs in City Of London, England
Focused on developing cultural and accessible opportunities for new and existing audiences, building local and long-term relationships, embedding meaningful and relevant ways of working with young people and collaborating with artists, partners, programme team to create impact. Emphasising an audience-centred approach, this new role has been established to develop and deliver new initiatives and engagement projects that bridge the gap between artistic programme and communities.
Key aims include:
• Platform new narratives, underrepresented perspectives and reflective discourse to widen audience engagement
• Futureproof the creative industry for generations to come through inclusive pathways and progression routes – supporting young people that enter the programme to expand and grow skills set and build the talent pipeline.
• To produce programmes that have impact by ensuring effective implementation of the Learning and Engagement and Audience Development strategy.
Strategy
• Deliver on the ICA’s vision and mission, the L&E strategy, audience development targets, increasing reach to work with diverse audiences, working to team targets and SMART objectives. Promote equality and inclusivity in all aspects of work.
• Instigating new collaborative models to engage with contemporary society that leverages the ICA’s assets as a resource.
Programme delivery
• Working closely with the Head of Learning and Engagement to devise and produce ICA’s Learning and Engagement programme, including co-creating with young people on our core youth projects (ICA Creatives and youth forum), monthly talks programme, book launches, symposia, workshops (inc reading groups), residencies.
• Developing programme that is responsive to the artistic programme and audience need.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with institutions including higher education and third sector for collaborative purposes and to grow new audiences.
• Liaise and collaborate with the Bookstore Manager on creating opportunities in line with the talks programme and book launches. 
• Ensure programmes are accessible, in content, language and reach.
• Contracting freelance artists, facilitators, and other collaborators, ensuring they understand and apply the organisation ethos and policies in their approach to work.
• Devising and delivering new online content opportunities, that create programme visibility, promote and target audience reach, including contributing towards digital strategies (in collaboration with comms team).
• Contribute to and participate in a collaborative working environment, including weekly team discussions and other conversations.
Finance Management
• Manage the project budget ensuring both quality control and good value for money, including authorising expenditure via any payment method, tracking all transactions, and tracking actual, committed, and forecast (uncommitted) costs. With oversight from Head of L&E.
• Track income, request sales invoices, and submit a third-party audit trail for all income received.
• Reconcile project budgets and cashflow to our accounting system monthly, in collaboration with the Finance Manager.
Comms & Marketing
• Work to maintain the profile of ICA and our projects.
• Work with the Communications Team to plan and deliver communication and participant recruitment campaigns and implement appropriate strategic marketing for each project.
• Arrange photography and video documentation as necessary.
• Write copy in line with ICA guidelines to promote programme
General Administration
• Ensure all day-to-day project administration is carried out efficiently and appropriately.
• Maintain that all project activity and outcomes are carried out in line with ICA’s policies and procedures, including and not limited to insurance, liability, health & safety, safeguarding, privacy & data protection, access, equity, diversity, inclusion, safer spaces, and anti-racism.
• Work in a sustainable and environmentally conscious manner in the production and presentation of ICA programme.
• Maintaining data collection to contribute towards evaluation, tracking monitoring information to monitor impact.
KEY REQUIREMENTS:
• At least 5 years’ experience of working effectively as a producer in the cultural sector within a participation / learning / engagement context
• A strong track record of producing programmes that respond to audience need and create impact
• Experience working with diverse audiences including young people and communities
• Knowledge of access, diversity, equality and inclusion, anti-racism policies in the cultural sector.
• Growth specific mind-set; adaptive and fresh thinking in new approaches to engage audiences
• Experience of working with artists and supporting them in complex project delivery
• Excellent project management, administrative and organisational skills
• Good numeracy and project budgeting skills
• IT literate and confident across a range of programmes and platforms
• A strong written and oral communication skills with an ability to communicate effectively with a diverse group of people
• Awareness of safeguarding management principles and best practices
• Keen interest in contemporary culture and shifts in generations and society.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Make a difference
This is an exciting opportunity to join our new service supporting Unpaid Carers across Lewisham to improve their health and wellbeing, and access support that meets their needs.
The team works with unpaid Adult Carers, Young Adult Carers and Young Carers, completing statutory and holistic assessments to understand people’s individual circumstances and level of need. You will carry out home visits and community meetings, co-produce support plans, and develop effective relationships with Unpaid Carers, families, and professionals.
You’ll build on your local knowledge to signpost and facilitate access for Unpaid Carers to support services, including financial and benefit advice, housing, health and safety home systems, and leisure and social activities. You will also support the development of escalation plans so that Unpaid Carers are prepared for unforeseen circumstances that would impact negatively on ability to care.
Applicants should have relevant personal or professional experience of working with Unpaid Carers and/or vulnerable adults or children in a social care, health, education or voluntary and community sector. You’ll need a practical understanding of barriers faced by Unpaid Carers, and an awareness of cultural differences and access to services. Experience of working in mental health or dementia services would be an advantage.
You should be an excellent communicator and able to motivate and empower others. This is a full-time role.
Don’t wait. Apply today!
We offer our employees:
- Inclusive values-based environment
- Competitive remuneration package
- Workplace pension scheme
- Generous 31 days annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays
- Opportunities for hybrid working
- Benenden Health Care
- Death in Service Benefit
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Employee Supported Volunteering scheme
- Development opportunities
- and more
Imago is committed to Safer Recruitment practices, and the post is subject to references and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Please either submit your CV with a short covering note or visit our website for full details.
Imago recognises that many people in our society experience discrimination or lack of opportunity for reasons that are not fair. We aim to create a culture that respects and values each other’s differences, and see these differences as an asset, as they improve our ability to meet the needs of the organisations and people we work with. We proactively seek to increase opportunities for inclusion, and celebrate diversity across our organisation and within communities.
Imago recognises its duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children, young people and adults at risk who access its services or with whom it comes into contact.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you ready to take the next step?
This is an exciting management opportunity for someone looking to use their skills and experience to make a real difference. Join our team working with unpaid carers across the London Borough of Lewisham to improve their health and wellbeing, and access support that meets their needs.
As project manager, you will oversee the day-to-day operation and delivery of this vital service, using your experience to develop the team, sharing best practice and seeking creative opportunities to continually improve the support we offer unpaid carers. You’ll develop trusted partnerships with local stakeholders, practitioners, businesses and services to promote and embed the service in the local area, supporting the development of a positive ‘carer friendly’ culture in Lewisham.
This role will suit a people person who can quickly develop relationships, lead a team, and work closely in a supportive role with Adult Carers, Young Adult Carers and Young Carers. You’ll have overall responsibility for the Carer’s hub, where carers can drop in for advice and support, manage a small caseload, and support the delivery of the service’s range of activities as required, including respite activities, online groups, face-to-face sessions.
We are looking for a great motivator with excellent communication and organisational skills. Applicants should have relevant team or project management experience in social care, health, education or the voluntary and community sector. You will have experience of working with vulnerable adults and/or children and operational knowledge of multi-agency working. A practical understanding of barriers faced by unpaid carers, and an awareness of cultural differences will be key in this role.
This is a full-time role and the postholder can either be based in the community in Lewisham or our New Ash Green office, with travel to the other area/ office 2 days a week. The postholder must have access to their own ULEZ compliant car.
Work with us!
We offer our employees:
· Inclusive values-based environment
· Competitive remuneration package
· Workplace pension scheme
· Generous 31 days annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays
· Opportunities for hybrid working
· Benenden Health Care
· Death in Service Benefit
· Cycle to Work Scheme
· Employee Supported Volunteering scheme
· Development opportunities
· and more
Imago is committed to Safer Recruitment practices, and the post is subject to references and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Please either submit your CV with a short covering note or visit our website for full details.
Imago recognises that many people in our society experience discrimination or lack of opportunity for reasons that are not fair. We aim to create a culture that respects and values each other’s differences, and see these differences as an asset, as they improve our ability to meet the needs of the organisations and people we work with. We proactively seek to increase opportunities for inclusion, and celebrate diversity across our organisation and within communities.
Imago recognises its duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children, young people and adults at risk who access its services or with whom it comes into contact.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
We have an exciting new opportunity for a Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our team in Merton.
The Merton Social Prescribing service is one of the most established and mature services in the UK and is celebrating its 7th anniversary this year. We are seeking an individual to join our successful service in Southwest London. This role will help to strengthen the links between Primary Care, voluntary and public services to improve patients’ health and wellbeing.
You will support patients within Primary Care in Merton, and you will support each patient to access appropriate services provided by voluntary and community organisations and other agencies. We expand the options available in Primary Care by creating a ‘managed’ way for referrals of patients with social, emotional and/or practical needs to a variety of local non-clinical services in the community. These include leisure, social activities, education, welfare, housing and employment advice and support.
About The Role | How to Apply:
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35 hrs per week
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six months fixed term contract with possible extension, subject to funding
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£31,395 per annum plus 5% pension, includes Outer London Weighting
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Closing date for applications: Wednesday 1st May 2024 (midnight)
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Applications may close before the deadline, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.
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Formal interviews will be held between 7th and 10th May 2024
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The starting day will be in June 2024
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Applicants will be notified by telephone if they are to be invited for interview
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Please complete and submit your application form by email to
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Senior Programme Manager (School Food Review)
This is a unique opportunity for a person with skills and experience in managing projects, programmes and partnerships to join a coalition of organisations striving to improve child health through improving the school food ecosystem.
Who we are
The School Food Review is a coalition of organisations spanning charities, educational organisations, caterers, unions and academics, committed to working together to improve children’s health by reforming the school food system. The group’s work is coordinated by founder members School Food Matters, Food Foundation, Bite Back 2030 and Chefs in Schools, and is supported by Impact on Urban Health.
The School Food Review has identified three areas of action required to deliver meaningful change – equitable access, fairer funding and quality assurance. Work across these three areas is delivered through focused working groups, drawing on members of the coalition. This includes public campaigning, advocacy and policy development.
The post will be hosted by Chefs in Schools; we are a young, ambitious charity that’s rapidly growing. Our mission is to improve kids' health, through improving school food & food education. Working in areas of high deprivation, we support and train school kitchen teams to serve the best, freshest and tastiest food possible, alongside meaningful food education. We share our learning and resources freely, aiming to inspire and enable others to follow our lead.
We’re backed by some of the biggest names in food and have ambitious targets to ensure every child has access to incredible school food and food education, setting them up for life with the skills and knowledge to feed themselves well.
About you and the role
The purpose of this role is to coordinate the work of our coalition, the School Food Review, to ensure that we are maximising the potential of the skills and expertise we can draw on from members, and driving meaningful impact. You will work closely with the School Food Review’s Operational Group, made up of key personnel from the founding organisations, to ensure that the coalition delivers on its mission. Whilst employed by Chefs in Schools, your role will be focused within the coalition.
Day to day, you will project manage operational delivery across the School Food Review coalition, ensuring efficient and effective delivery against the agreed work plan, which you will be monitoring and developing in consultation with your colleagues in the operational group. You will ensure that the governance committee and broader coalition group are kept informed of progress, promptly flagging risks and identifying suitable mitigations.
You will have an understanding of the context that we operate in, education and food sectors, and a high-level understanding of the type of work that is being delivered (eg policy, campaigning and advocacy). You will be a subject matter expert in project management. Your expertise in this area will be combined with strong people skills, and the ability to manage effective partnerships with external organisations. Experience of working with a coalition, or in partnership with multiple organisations, is crucial.
The responsibilities, skills and experience listed below are intended to give you an idea of what we need for this role. If you don’t meet every single requirement, but feel as though you would be able to work with us to deliver the majority of them, we would urge you to apply anyway. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and for us the most important ‘experience’ is passion for our mission. You may be just the right candidate for this, or other roles.
Benefits
You would be joining a friendly, supportive team who work hard, but believe in a healthy work / life balance. We seek a diverse range of perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to, and draw on, a variety of projects and strategic insights.
We offer 33 days (pro-rata for part time positions) of holiday per year, including bank holidays, a Cycle to Work scheme, hybrid working, free access to the CODE app for discounted restaurants & hospitality venues, enhanced parental leave. We are committed to developing our team and will support you with relevant training opportunities including £250 towards elective training and development of your choice.
We also offer Bupa Dental Insurance, Income Protection Insurance, as well as access to the AIG Smart Health Platform which offers health benefits including free rapid access online GP appointments, free counselling and wellbeing support.
Key responsibilities:
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Development of project work plans, seeking approval from the Governance Committee and buy-in from the wider coalition
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Managing delivery of the project work plan to timeline, working in partnership with the working groups, supporting them to remain effective
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Manage the development of new programmes and workstreams, ensuring that these align with the agreed framework from the Governance Committee
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Ensure that project planning and delivery is in line with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
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Ensuring learning and evaluation is embedded from design stage onwards
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Contribute to the development of strategy for the coalition
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Prepare budget and forecasts, for sign off by the Governance Committee
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Ensure our funders are kept up to date with the latest progress
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Keeping in touch with external partners and environment, to understand issues affecting the wider sector
Skills & experience:
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You have a background or significant experience in working in coalition or partnership with multiple organisations
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You have interest and belief in our mission, to improve child health through improving food and food education in schools
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You have a background or significant experience in project or programme management at significant scale
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You are organised, methodical, strong on detail, and able to map out deadlines and plan ahead
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You are an excellent writer and communicator with strong presentation and facilitation skills
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You are skilled in building rapport with people and strike a balance between being supportive and challenging
As we work with children & young people, an offer of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and enhanced DBS clearance, in line with our safeguarding policy
Application process
In line with our commitment to ensuring a fair and unbiased recruitment process, we will invite candidates to interview based on their anonymous answers to a series of questions related to their day-to-day job.
Please follow this link to answer the questions and submit your application: https://forms.gle/bwcBgnHiwHUC9oQy5 before 12pm on Wednesday 1st May
We recommend that you develop your answers offline and copy them in when you’re ready to ensure you don’t lose your work if interrupted.
Your answers will go through our sifting process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a first 1 hour online interview on Wednesday 15th May. Successful candidates will be asked to attend a 1-hour second interview in on Wednesday 22nd May, in person in our Brixton Office: International House, Canterbury Cres, London SW9 7QE.
We want to get to know you at the interview and understand we can do this best if you’re at ease. We’re an inclusive employer and want to create a welcoming working environment for everyone. Interviews may include a written (on computer) task, and/or a formal presentation. If you need adjustments to the interview process, please let us know.
Expected duration of this application process: 4-6 weeks
Shortlisting questions:
Please note that whilst we are keen to embrace the benefits and potential of AI, these questions are designed so that we gain an understanding your skills, experience and mindset. Therefore, all answers will be screened for AI generated responses and any that are detected will be automatically excluded.
1) This role will involve coordinating the work of our coalition to ensure we are maximising the skills and expertise of our members, whilst driving meaningful impact. How will you apply your experience of working in coalition or partnership with multiple organisations to the challenge of managing members to deliver on unified objectives?
2) In consultation with members of the School Food Review Operations Group, you will be responsible for managing the operational delivery and communication across the coalition. What project management tools and strategies would you implement to ensure effective delivery and communication?
3) The work of the School Food Review aims to deliver on policy, campaigning and advocacy, working together to improve children’s health by reforming the school food system. What is your understanding of the political environment and challenges that may be faced?
4) The coalition is made up of many members with similar goals but some opposing views. How will you win over the hearts and minds of all members to ensure we continue to build the coalition?
We’re on a mission to transform kids’ health through food – plate by plate, class by class, school by school.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Reports to: Head of Inclusive Leadership Course
Start date: ASAP or mid-August 2024
Location: London / Hybrid - minimum 3 days per week in office (The Difference’s office in Bethnal Green). Willingness to travel for programme delivery across the North East, North West, and the Midlands 3 days per half term.
Contract: Permanent, full time/flexible working considered
Salary: £55k - £65k per annum (+6% employer pension contribution and sector-leading parental leave policy shared with all applicants)
Closing Date for Applications: Sunday 21st April 23:59
Person Specification
The Difference is seeking an outstanding school leader to take on the role of Programme Lead through an exciting period of growth and development, with a particular focus on developing our People and Practice work. The successful candidate will be instrumental in the delivery of our various programmes, actively engaging in their implementation and with valuable insights for continuous improvement. This role offers a distinct chance to make a significant impact on The Difference's overarching strategic goals. As the Programme Lead, you'll have the opportunity to shape our programmes, ensuring they align with our mission and vision. Your contributions will not only drive tangible outcomes but will also shape the future direction of our organisation. You will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the outcomes for children who experience vulnerability and disadvantage by working closely with school leaders to develop school practice and systems.
You will have real ownership over your area of work, be happiest in a flexible and ambitious environment, and enjoy testing out new ideas. You will have experience in professional development design, delivery, project management and supporting school staff and leaders through professional coaching .
Essential knowledge, experience and skills
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Demonstrated Alignment with The Difference’s values: a history of actions and decisions that align with The Difference's values, showcasing a personal commitment to the mission of improving life outcomes for vulnerable children.
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Credibility as a proven school leader of inclusion: as a Trust middle leader, Headteacher, Deputy or Assistant Headteacher in a Primary or Secondary setting in contexts of high disadvantage and vulnerability.
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A record of impact for children experiencing vulnerability: including designing and delivering work that led to reduced harmful behaviours, repeat suspension or persistent absence.
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A record of empowering work with children and families.
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Evidence of designing and delivering impactful professional development: high quality learning sessions, fostering sustained staff development and contributing to a culture of continuous learning.
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Understanding of Relational Practice within Education: A track record of utilising or implementing practice aligned with the relational approaches to deliver improved student outcomes.
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Aiming high and holding people accountable through visionary leadership: Ability to articulate an ambitious vision, inspiring and motivating others to meet high standards. A proven ability to hold individuals accountable for their contributions.
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Flexibility and a willingness to travel: including overnight stays, particularly within London,and across the North East, North West, and the Midlands. A likely travel pattern of 2-3 days travel per fortnight.
Desired knowledge, experience and skills
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Stakeholder management & relationship-building: proven experience in managing relationships with various stakeholders, including navigating HR processes and demonstrating effective stakeholder engagement skills. Experience of sales and a business to business sales process would be advantageous.
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Adaptability: track record of prioritising and creating clarity in ambiguous, challenging, or fast-paced situations. Experience in working directly with colleagues, implementing strategies such as coaching and structured reflection to establish clear and effective plans.
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Research Engagement: engagement with research and evidence-based strategies for school improvement. Demonstrable quantifiable impact using evidence-informed approaches.
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Contextual Awareness: varied experience in different schools, showcasing an understanding of how contextual factors impact schools and teachers, and an awareness of the wider educational landscape.
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Teaching Qualification: possession of Qualified Teacher Status, demonstrating the foundational qualification for the role.
Why Work for The Difference?
Schooling isn’t working for the children who need it most. Every week in England 109 children – equivalent to three full classrooms – are permanently excluded. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Since the pandemic, school suspensions have risen significantly, as has persistent absenteeism. 1 in 5 children are missing more than 10% of their time in school. Children who are excluded or persistently absent are much more likely to already be experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. They are more likely to live in poverty, have additional learning needs, suffer mental health challenges, or experience a lack of safety outside school. Certain ethnicities are also disproportionately affected, notably Gypsy Roma Traveller and black Caribbean children.
Exclusion and high rates of absence can have a dramatic effect on life chances. These young people are more likely to drop out of education or employment, become vulnerable to long-term mental ill health, or be at risk of criminal exploitation. The Difference believes that children and young people deserve better and that the education system has to change.
Our Organisation
The Difference is a young education charity, founded to change the story on lost learning. By 2030, we want rates of exclusion and absence to be falling nationally and for schools to be better equipped to support all children, including those who may be vulnerable. The Difference was born out of a year of research into school exclusions with think-tank IPPR. This research identified a lack of inclusion expertise in schools and proposed a new leadership development programme to fill this gap. In 2018, Difference founder Kiran hired the team who took this idea from concept to reality, beginning work with our first schools.
The Difference is now a 22-strong team delivering multiple school leadership programmes, alongside a growing research and policy arm. The team is supported by our Youth Advisory Board, made up of young people who have experienced exclusion and who provide their expertise and insights on how school inclusion work should be done. This work is needed more than ever. Effects of COVID-19, coupled with the spiralling cost of living, have substantially increased levels of vulnerability. Schools serving excluded pupils face under-funding. The Difference has had excellent early impact but there is work ahead to scale this impact through our programmes, share learning with schools and policy-makers, and grow our capacity to lower exclusions across England.
The Task Ahead: Programme Lead
In 2019 The Difference launched our programmes working with 22 school leaders in London. Since then we have worked with 447 school leaders nationally. We want to continue to scale our programmes and reach more school leaders to help shape their schools practice and systems to improve pupil wellbeing, safety and belonging. We intend to further develop our programmes to improve inclusion in schools and successfully change the story for students currently struggling in school.
Key tasks for this role include:
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Deliver The Difference’s Inclusive Leadership Course to senior leaders from a range of school settings. This takes place in venues across the country including but not limited to London, the North East, North West, and the Midlands. Confidence and passion to deliver the course to the high standards required.
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In-school support for The DIfference’s School Partnership (DSP). Delivering across a variety of schools including mainstream secondary, mainstream primary and Alternative Provision settings. Supporting the implementation of key themes and content from The Difference’s Inclusive Leadership Course.
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Working closely with The Differences Research, Impact & Influencing team to capture case studies, research and impact metrics that demonstrate the impact of the Difference’s programmatic work.
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Input to the evolution and development of the Difference’s programmatic offer using insight from delivery and feedback from programme participants
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Working closely with the The Difference’s Partnership and Sales team to support the reach and impact of the programmatic work.
Our Values
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High Expectations - We are ambitious for excellence from young people, colleagues and ourselves. We don’t believe in writing off someone’s potential because of their identity or experience of crisis.
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Strong Relationships - We prioritise genuine relationships over transactional interactions, and know that this requires deliberate relational practice. We see colleagues and partners as people first and their roles second; and know this greater trust allows us to take more risks, gain more feedback and have greater impact.
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Internalised Locus of Control - We work hard to reframe difficult situations to discover what we have within our power in terms of solutions. We take it upon ourselves to walk towards challenges and can take a high level of ownership and agency in our work/
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Pragmatism - We believe leadership means recognising current limitations and striving for improvements within and beyond them. We develop consensus and chart new ways forward, challenging false and extreme positions like “zero exclusions” or “no excuses”.
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Scientific approach - We take a diagnostic approach to unpicking causes of problems. We are loud and proud of our failures, recognising failing fast and often is key to finding the best solutions. We test solutions and are willing to use data and feedback to make adjustments and choose new directions.
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Not Squeamish about Structural Inequality - We believe patterns of inequality can and should be disrupted. We strive to be clear-eyed about these inequalities, and both the individual practice and system-changes required to address them. We push ourselves to overcome awkwardness in talking about this; and begin by acknowledging our own biases and blind spots.
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Asset-based - We work hard to avoid deficit thinking and aim to start with what’s strong, not what’s wrong. We are careful not to frame our colleagues and stakeholders - particularly young people and families – as victims but instead to recognise their agency.
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Wise selves - To both enjoy work and do their best, we want to make decisions and work with others in our “wise” - or regulated - selves. We also want to bring our compassionate self to those we work with, externally and internally, to support one another through challenging times.
How To Apply
To apply, please complete all sections of the application form by midnight on Sunday 21st April.
First round interviews will be held during the week beginning 6th May, over video call. Please indicate if you would not be available to attend an interview during this week.
If successful in this stage, second round interviews (including a task to be completed the same day) will take place on the week beginning 13th May, at our office in Bethnal Green.
We are committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups in the charity sector such as people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people with experience in the care system, non-graduates and first-in-family graduates.
Please note that we're not able to sponsor work visas for this role and can only move forward with candidates who are eligible to work in the UK.
As part of our commitment to fairer recruitment, all applications will be assessed with names and any protected characteristics redacted.
Recommended Reading
If you’d like to understand more about The Difference and what we are trying to achieve, we would recommend the following:
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The research which underpins our organisation.
Our latest Impact Report, sharing our work in 2023
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
First Give was founded in 2014 to inspire, equip and motivate young people to make a difference to the causes they care about. As we approach our second decade, it is an exciting time to join the charity. Our vision is of a more generous society where all people are willing and able to give their time, money and skills to causes that they care about.
We are currently developing a new strategy which by which we aim to have reached a million young people by 2034. We intend to do this by developing new programmes and activities that will support us to achieve our mission: to create opportunities for young people to be inspired and empowered to give their time, money or skills to charities and causes that matter to them. Our existing programmes are delivered in partnership with schools across England and Wales, ensuring that as many young people as possible, regardless of their background have the opportunity to take part.
As second most senior leader in the charity, the Deputy Director will provide leadership to the First Give team and support the Board of Trustees and Director with strategy and governance.
The Deputy Director will play an integral role in the development of the charity as we move into our second decade. They will spearhead our fundraising, communications and marketing to ensure the charity has the capacity to deliver against our strategic goals.
Our values at First Give inform who we are and what we do. We are:
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Altruistic
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Inspiring
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Empowering
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Collaborative
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Professional
Location
Remote/hybrid. We welcome applications from across England and Wales, however desk space is available at our London office in West Hampstead should the successful candidate be based in London.
Regular travel to London (approximately once a month) and occasional travel across England and Wales will be required.
Reporting to:
Director
Direct Reports:
Administrator
Key responsibilities
Organisational Leadership and line management
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Deputise for the Director when necessary
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Provide leadership and positive role modelling to the First Give team
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Support organisation-wide improvements and innovation, including strategic planning and organisational structure
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Develop connections and networks that increase the profile and opportunities for the charity
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Work with the Director and Head of Programmes to create opportunities for young people to influence and engage with our work and impact
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Line management of our Administrator
Fundraising
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Work with the Director and consultants to own and implement a robust fundraising strategy to support the organisation as it executes its new strategic plan
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Develop processes for managing fundraising applications and stewardship of existing funders and supporters
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Write and submit high quality, inspiring and tailored funding applications and reports for trusts and foundations (expected to be in the region of £10,000-150,000)
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Identify and develop potential new funding opportunities for First Give, including major donors and corporate funders
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Manage relationships with a set number of key funders, ensuring that we proactively seek feedback, engagement and involvement in our work
New School Partner Recruitment
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Oversee and co-ordinate all new school partner recruitment sales and marketing activity
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Work with our marketing agency to develop and implement marketing campaigns
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Support the Programmes Team to recruit new partner schools in priority regions
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Proactively seek opportunities for growth of the First Give partners network
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Develop and design and production of marketing and sales resources to support all sales activity
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You may also be required to deliver sales meetings with networks including Headteacher meetings and attend conferences to promote the work of the charity
Communications
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Lead the development and manage the delivery of our communications strategy, including all messaging to key stakeholders via a range of appropriate channels, including newsletters, social media and our website
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Be responsible for the First Give website, ensuring it is up to date, relevant and meets the needs of the organisation
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Brand champion, ensuring that all external communications and resources are aligned with our brand identity and tone of voice
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Management of retainer with external design agency
The job description gives an outline of key duties and is not intended to be an exhaustive list. The post holder may be asked to take on other relevant responsibilities as reasonably requested by their line manager.
Safer recruitment
Safer recruitment and safeguarding is of paramount importance to us, as an organisation that works with and for young people. The successful candidate will be made a conditional offer subject to two references (one of which must be your most recent employer) and any offer of employment will be subject to a DBS check.
Person Specification
Essential
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Passionate about young people and their potential to drive social change
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Leadership experience, ideally in a charity of similar complexity and scale
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Ability to triage between the strategic and operational with ease and confidence
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Demonstrable success as a fundraiser, particularly bid-writing, reporting and funder stewardship
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Experience of developing and implementing a communications strategy
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Experience of creating a range of content for different audiences and channels including marketing materials, newsletters, blogs, social media content etc…
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Experience developing and implementing successful sales and marketing strategies, preferably in the education sector
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Experience of writing and managing budgets, delivering plans using resources available
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Track record of stakeholder management at senior levels
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Experience of working in or with teachers and schools
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Excellent presentation skills, with an ability to deliver concise, engaging and persuasive presentations
Desirable
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Experience leading the development, implementation and evaluation of marketing activity and campaigns
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Experience of remote line management
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Experience of working in a remote, decentralised team
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Experience of using Salesforce
Why work for First Give?
First Give provides many benefits and prides itself on how it treats its staff. Our benefits include:
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Three additional days between Christmas and New Year given to staff gratis. An additional day off for your birthday in addition to your annual leave allowance. Annual leave allowance increases year on year after 3 years with First Give.
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Access to Health Assured (health and wellbeing) Employee Assistance Programme.
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As you will use your personal mobile for work, First Give provides a phone allowance to contribute towards your mobile costs.
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Training and professional development budget, with regular training offered through the Pears Foundation.
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Laptops are provided on a ‘paid for through service’ arrangement and become the employees after three years of service.
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Multiple team socials and volunteering days throughout the year.
The students we work with come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and so do we. We want to ensure that we are recruiting, retaining and promoting a diverse mix of colleagues. We want to foster a diverse and inclusive culture, to empower our teams to achieve our vision drawing on the broadest possible range of experiences. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates from minoritised groups currently underrepresented on our executive team, particularly black and minority ethnic and disabled candidates.
Application process
Please fill out the Microsoft form by clicking the Apply Now button which includes a statement of how you fulfil the specification above, and why you want this role at First Give. Please also fill out our equality & diversity monitoring form (this will not be linked to your application).
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Application closes: Thursday 2nd May, 12pm
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Interviews: Tuesday 7th May
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Start date: ASAP
To create opportunities where young people are inspired and empowered to give their time, money or skills to charities and causes that they care abou
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
As the Training Programmes Manager you will have oversight and responsibility for the healthcare professional training projects and activities, as well as growing the M4RD network within HCP groups and training institutions.
You will be key to rolling out Rare Disease 101 training for healthcare professionals all over the UK and potentially abroad. While you are not expected to deliver training yourself you will be pivotal to creating opportunities and facilitating all aspects of the programme.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
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Co-lead M4RD’s Ambassador Programme, managing the clinical and medical student ambassadors.
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Planning and delivering training events.
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Deliver educational and training projects inline with M4RD’s current strategy and work programme.
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Collaborate with training institutions and NHS workplaces inline with M4RD’s current strategy and work programme.
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Potential to manage up to two members of the M4RD Team.
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Support the CEO and Operations & Finance Manager with recruitment duties, operational strategy and development and coaching any relevant staff.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Reports to: Director of Research, Impact and Influence
Start date: ASAP
Location: London or Flexible Working (remote with weekly travel to London)
Contract: FT or 0.8FTE, Permanent
Salary: £50-57k per annum, skills and experience dependent (+6% employer pension contribution and sector-leading parental leave policy shared with all applicants)
Closing Date for Applications: Sunday 28th April 23:59
Person Specification
The Difference is looking for someone who can lead the team’s impact function as the charity goes through a really exciting period of growth and development. You will refine our monitoring and evaluation work in order to drive continuous improvement across the charity, and to shape future programme design. You’ll feed into the development of new tools for use by schools to better understand and respond to their own inclusion data. You’ll also play a key role in helping The Difference and its partner schools to understand the mechanisms for change in our programmes, and identify what supports and hinders change. Our programmes work with schools as they become more inclusive, support all of their students to succeed, and reduce the amount of learning lost to exclusions and absence.
You will have real ownership over your area of work, be happiest in a flexible and ambitious environment, and enjoy testing out new ideas. You will have experience in working on programme evaluation, impact measurement or applied research, and will combine strong data and project-management skills.
Essential knowledge, experience and skills
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Experience of designing and carrying out both formative and summative evaluation understanding how to appropriately design, collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data.
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Organisation & project management skills, demonstrable through past work whether this was delivering a project independently or coordinating a team. You feel confident planning multiple workstreams, working to timelines and juggling deadlines.
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Strategic communication – Confident in organising ideas and information to highlight the more salient and strategically significant elements, with internal and external audiences. Experienced in communicating with stakeholders from different backgrounds, from CEOs to service-users or young people.
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Experience in contributing to organisational change processes - working with senior leadership to utilise insights from programme evaluation to support the evolution of programme design and using evaluation to identify areas for continuous improvement.
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Values – A career (or voluntary experiences) which evidence shared values with The Difference - see these values below - plus a personal commitment to our mission to improve life outcomes for vulnerable young people.
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Self-directed – Evidenced capacity to take high levels of ownership in your work and over your own development, proactively diagnosing skills and information gaps, and making use of others’ expertise.
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Agile & solutions-focused – Ability to thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment, comfortable with making decisions in ambiguous contexts and casting a critical eye on systems, processes and practice.
Desired knowledge, experience and skills
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Knowledge of the education sector and school data systems.
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Experience in the start-up or small charity sector. An ability to thrive in the flexible, fast-paced and sometimes ambiguous context of start-up.
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Quantitative data analysis skills. Experience using software to analyse large datasets (e.g. R, SPSS, Stata), and ability to interpret results, plus confidence in using Excel and other programmes to present this.
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Insight through work or life into school experiences of over-excluded young people, including young people with experience of the care system, of mental ill health, of special educational needs, or racism.
Why Work for The Difference?
Schooling isn’t working for the children who need it most. Every week in England 109 children – equivalent to three full classrooms – are permanently excluded. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Since the pandemic, school suspensions have risen significantly, as has persistent absenteeism. 1 in 5 children are missing more than 10% of their time in school. Children who are excluded or persistently absent are much more likely to already be experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. They are more likely to live in poverty, have additional learning needs, suffer mental health challenges, or experience a lack of safety outside school. Certain ethnicities are also disproportionately affected, notably Gypsy Roma Traveller and black Caribbean children.
Exclusion and high rates of absence can have a dramatic effect on life chances. These young people are more likely to drop out of education or employment, become vulnerable to long-term mental ill health, or be at risk of criminal exploitation. The Difference believes that children and young people deserve better and that the education system has to change.
Our Organisation
The Difference is a young education charity, founded to change the story on lost learning. By 2030, we want rates of exclusion and absence to be falling nationally and for schools to be better equipped to support all children, including those who may be vulnerable.
The Difference was born out of a year of research into school exclusions with think-tank IPPR. This research identified a lack of inclusion expertise in schools and proposed a new leadership development programme to fill this gap. In 2018, Difference founder Kiran hired the team who took this idea from concept to reality, beginning work with our first schools.
The Difference is now a 22-strong team delivering multiple school leadership programmes, alongside a growing research and policy arm. The team is supported by our Youth Advisory Board, made up of young people who have experienced exclusion and who provide their expertise and insights on how school inclusion work should be done. This work is needed more than ever. Effects of COVID-19, coupled with the spiralling cost of living, have substantially increased levels of vulnerability. Schools serving excluded pupils face under-funding. The Difference has had excellent early impact but there is work ahead to capture this, share learning with schools and policy-makers, and grow our capacity to lower exclusions across England.
The Task Ahead: Head of Impact
In 2022, The Difference established a Research, Impact and Influencing Directorate, indicating the growing importance of this work to our mission. We’re doing more to understand (and evidence) how school leaders who take part in our programmes are driving impactful inclusion in their schools. And we intend to use this to have a national impact on how schools are measured and driven to put pupil wellbeing, safety and belonging at the heart of their work. Improving our understanding of the impact of inclusion is key to successfully changing the story for students currently struggling in schools.
Key Tasks for this role include:
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Strengthen our monitoring, evaluation and impact systems: using methods that are both qualitative (interviews, case-studies, roundtables) and quantitative (staff and student surveys, school data tracking), and collating and analysing the data collected to diagnose successes, challenges and opportunities within our work streams.
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Act as an internal consultant with the team: bringing stakeholder feedback together in clear presentations for other staff members and acting as a “critical friend” during delivery and strategy planning. Identify insights that point to continuous improvement of our programmes and work with Programme Team to utilise insights.
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Develop our qualitative framework to better track and measure whole-school inclusion. This framework will aim not just to support improved work for children in our schools, but to define what good looks like in the sector.
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Progress our ambition to make inclusion more tangibly measurable: plan user-research with school partners to identify inclusion data needs and use these findings to develop impact tools that collate exclusion, attendance and demographic data. Work with others in the sector using innovative methods to measure inclusion through national datasets.
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Expand our work on measuring school inclusion through student experience of safety, wellbeing and belonging. Grow the reach of our current survey tools and collaborating with others in the sector doing innovative work on student voice and inclusion.
Our Values
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High Expectations - We are ambitious for excellence from young people, colleagues and ourselves. We don’t believe in writing off someone’s potential because of their identity or experience of crisis.
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Strong Relationships - We prioritise genuine relationships over transactional interactions, and know that this requires deliberate relational practice. We see colleagues and partners as people first and their roles second; and know this greater trust allows us to take more risks, gain more feedback and have greater impact.
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Internalised Locus of Control - We work hard to reframe difficult situations to discover what we have within our power in terms of solutions. We take it upon ourselves to walk towards challenges and can take a high level of ownership and agency in our work.
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Pragmatism - We believe leadership means recognising current limitations and striving for improvements within and beyond them. We develop consensus and chart new ways forward, challenging false and extreme positions like “zero exclusions” or “no excuses”.
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Scientific approach - We take a diagnostic approach to unpicking causes of problems. We are loud and proud of our failures, recognising failing fast and often is key to finding the best solutions. We test solutions and are willing to use data and feedback to make adjustments and choose new directions.
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Not Squeamish about Structural Inequality - We believe patterns of inequality can and should be disrupted. We strive to be clear-eyed about these inequalities, and both the individual practice and system-changes required to address them. We push ourselves to overcome awkwardness in talking about this; and begin by acknowledging our own biases and blind spots.
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Asset-based - We work hard to avoid deficit thinking and aim to start with what’s strong, not what’s wrong. We are careful not to frame our colleagues and stakeholders - particularly young people and families – as victims but instead to recognise their agency.
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Wise selves - To both enjoy work and do their best, we want to make decisions and work with others in our “wise” - or regulated - selves. We also want to bring our compassionate self to those we work with, externally and internally, to support one another through challenging times.
How To Apply
To apply, please complete all sections of the application form by midnight on Sunday 28th April.
First round interviews will be held during the week beginning 13th May, over video call.
Please indicate if you would not be available to attend an interview during this week.
If successful in this stage, second round interviews (including a task to be completed the same day) will take place on the week beginning 20th May, at our office in Bethnal Green.
We are committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups in the charity sector such as people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people with experience in the care system, non-graduates and first-in-family graduates.
As part of our commitment to fairer recruitment, all applications will be assessed with names and any protected characteristics redacted.
Please note that we're not able to sponsor work visas for this role and can only move forward with candidates who are eligible to work in the UK.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The Ian Karten Charitable Trust is looking for a home-based, self-employed administrator to cover the current incumbent who is going on maternity leave in July 2024. The Trust is a grant making trust focused on disability and education.
The role is very flexible; hours required are generally between 8 and 16 per month. With the exception of two trustee meetings annually, which usually take place at mutually agreed times during office hours, most of the work can be carried out according to the postholder’s individual commitments and availability.
The administrator will report to the Chair of Trustees, and will be responsible for ensuring that the administrative processes necessary for the running of the Trust are smooth and efficient. This will include monitoring emails and communicating with grantees, processing payments, preparing and distributing papers for trustee meetings, taking minutes at trustee meetings and following up on agreed actions, and ensuring any necessary documentation is kept up to date. For a full list of responsibilities, and details on how to apply, please refer to the attached job description. We are happy to have informal conversations about the role prior to application.
We can only consider applicants based in the UK, and applications which do not include a cover letter will not be considered.
Please read the full job description provided on the attachment and send a CV and cover letter - this can either be done directly through CharityJob or through the address listed on the job description. We won't be able to consider applications which don't include both a CV and cover letter.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Who we are
Speakers for Schools is the largest social mobility charity in the UK. We help to level the playing field between state and independent schools by giving all young people access to the same prestigious networks available to the top fee-paying schools.
We believe that by inspiring young people to explore their ambitions through our speaker programme, facilitating access to multi-day experiences of the world of work, and supporting young people to successfully seize opportunities available to them, then we can make a profound difference to the lives of young people, their future happiness and prosperity.
By 2028, our ambition is that every young person in the UK has access to high quality work experience. Yet today, less than half of young people leave secondary school having had any work experience whatsoever.
Role Summary
This role, based in Scotland (working remotely) , is crucial in driving forward support for, engagement with, and coordination of high-quality and high-impact multi-day work experiences for high-need young people across the UK. Experts in the coordination and delivery of multi-day work experiences, working closely with UK-wide employers and education establishments in Scotland.
The starting salary for this role is £30216, rising to £32706 after a suucessful year in role.
Key Duties / Responsibilities
Strategic purpose:
- Responsible for the end-to-end delivery of Experience opportunities from initial programme scoping with non-income generating employers to securing commitments, monitoring young person applications, programme design and implementation, and employer follow up.
- Nurturing relationships with existing schools and colleges in Scotland and onboarding new establishments
Employer Engagement:
- Responsible for account management of corporate partnerships as agreed by the development team
- Securing commitment from employers to deliver multi-day work experience opportunities.
- Account management for employers throughout their work experience journey.
- Supporting the account management of corporate partners by delivering on their work experience programmes as agreed by the business development team and coordinating with other programme teams to ensure committed delivery takes place.
- Training employers to use SfS products in the coordination and delivery of their placements, including but not limited to Portal and Google Classroom.
- Working closely with Delivery Partners to ensure seamless delivery of work experience opportunities.
- Leading on all employer engagement and meetings with your dedicated accounts.
- Developing and disseminating impact reports to employers at the end of their contract and in line with impact and evaluation framework.
- Working closely with Education team to ensure school engagement in areas of work experience activity and in line with charity’s target areas.
School Engagement:
- Training and supporting users to maximise the opportunity to their students accessing our programmes through our platform
- Delivering training sessions to schools and colleges on our programmes and building on engagement in Scotland.
- Building partnerships as determined by national education strategy to maximise our impact.
- Developing long-standing relationships with school and college contacts to enable engagement in and implementation of our product offer.
- Build a network of educational contacts, ensuring elevated level of customer service and reporting opportunities and feedback to National Education Manager (North)
Delivery:
- Providing best practice guidance and advice on work experience programme set up and content.
- Responsible for delivery and completion of own work experience placements and the operational and administrative activity required.
- Providing cover and support for other Work Experience Managers as required.
- Taking ownership of own capacity management using capacity management frameworks to help inform future workload planning.
- Adherence to data compliance, standards, guidelines and best practices to ensure our data integrity and consistency.
- Retain our registered schools and colleges in our network and increase engagement levels in all programmes.
- Ensuring all data relating to school and college engagement is accurate, recorded and presented in reports when required.
- Networking to collaboratively build brand awareness of Speakers for Schools across all partners and organisations working in the Education landscape.
- Supporting the wider UK Education Strategy for Speakers for Schools
- Represent and work to our values as, fostering a culture of positivity, support, respect, and inclusivity, while taking personal responsibility for their attitude, performance, and development.
- Ensure safeguarding best practice is enshrined in all organisational activity.
Experience / Knowledge / Skills
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders from all levels
- Enjoys being part of a team, with a ‘can-do’ attitude and flexibility to help with any tasks the team or management requires support for
- Experience in a similar environment working with a variety of stakeholders
- Has a growth mindset, able to challenge and provide innovative solution
- Clear and concise communicator, capable of producing written content to a professional quality
- Ability to think strategically and can change operational tactics while still meeting larger objectives
- Results-orientated with a strong focus on achieving targets despite constraints and obstacles
- Comfort and experience in working with technology and data management
- Experience using Microsoft Office programmes, including Outlook
Desirable
- Previous experience working with CSR/Educational providers/Youth/Engagement teams is an advantage
- An understanding of the Scottish Education System and a familiarity with careers provision and social mobility challenges within schools and colleges
- Experience of working with educational establishments and familiarity of how schools and colleges operate
- Understanding of best practice in safeguarding and data compliance
- Previous experience of working with Local Authorities and/or DYW and/or SDS
- Knowledge of Salesforce CRM, to track relationships and ensure proper data management
Note: This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of responsibilities and duties required.
Speakers for Schools Values
PASSION:
We are committed to levelling the playing field for young people across the UK, creating social mobility and tackling disadvantages.
AGILITY:
We challenge our ideas of what is possible in order to better meet the needs of those we support. We are human, make mistakes, learn, evolve and adapt.
INTEGRITY:
We act with empathy and bring our authentic selves to work every day. We value and respect the talent, time and intentions of those we work with.
COLLABORATION:
We are one team with one mission and only by working together can we deliver better outcomes for young people. We support each other unconditionally and feel motivation in shared success as well as individual progress.
DIVERSITY:
We know it takes people with different ideas, strengths, identities, interests, and cultural backgrounds to make our organisation succeed. We encourage constructive debate and critical friendship.
Diversity at our core
Speakers for schools is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating discrimination.
The City and Guilds of London Art School is a small, independent Higher Education Institute. It traces its history back to the 1850s and has strong links to a number of City Livery Companies as well as certain Trusts and Foundations and individual donors. The Art School is now seeking a Development and External Relations Manager to drive forward its activities in these areas in accordance with the Art School’s strategy and targets. A key aspect of the role is nurturing existing and developing new relationships within the Art School’s expanding base of supporters and collaborators, including through the organisation of events. We are looking for a self-starter with substantial experience of working in a fundraising role in the cultural or similar sector, and who can work on their own initiative as a key member of the Art School’s senior management team.
Please see the Job Specification document for further information about the post.
How to apply:
Please send your completed Job Application Form, setting out how your knowledge and experience meets the person specification, and CV to Mari Shiba at the email provided.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you passionate about ensuring everyone can engage effectively with the digital world? Are you a brilliant influencer who relishes harnessing great policy and research to realise social change? Do you want to work in a pioneering initiative with impact at its core?
Then this could be the role for you. At the Digital Poverty Alliance, we are looking for our new Policy & Insights Manager. You must be able to inspire us and our partners and spearhead our public affairs work, including through our National Delivery Plan to unite action to end digital poverty by 2030.
We bring together charities, corporates and government to address the underlying issues stopping families gaining full access to digital services such as education, healthcare and employment. We seek social change through our National Delivery Plan, whilst also delivering solutions in local areas that help real people and provide evidence for change.
This is an exciting, high profile and fast-paced role, joining our small team and working alongside partners, National Delivery Committee members and our wider stakeholders to effect real change for people. You will report directly to the Chief Executive, working alongside our Head of External Affairs.
A big part of our social change ambition is delivered through our public affairs work; influencing policy makers so that our ambitions are shared with government, companies and with everyone able to deliver to our vision of a world where everyone is able to connect successfully with the digital world where and when they want to. You will also be responsible for drafting white papers, analysing trends and data, and identifying new insights. You will support our Industry Forum, working with existing and new members to broaden the group.
The DPA aims to work through partners in delivering to our core mission and, as such, we retain only a small core team with support from our PR agency. As such, you’ll lead on delivering our policy and public affairs work, from briefing MPs to developing our policy positions.
Whilst the role is remote based, you will regularly need to attend in-person meetings and events in central London (daytime and evening), as well as undertaking travel across the UK. Given the need to attend meetings in Westminster and Whitehall, you will need to live within commuting distance of London.
Key focus areas
- Building relationships with public, private and third sector organisations, including the wider DPA community.
- Working to convene and collaborate with organisations and individuals committed to ending digital poverty.
- Work with colleagues across local, regional and national governments and across political parties to advocate for policies to promote digital inclusion.
- Undertaking research and analysis to understand digital poverty and the impact of policies to address it.
- Managing policy and research projects including the ongoing development of the national delivery plan and supporting ‘proof of concept’ projects.
- Developing commercial and research partnerships with organisations and supporting the development of the industry forum.
- Communicating the DPA vision and perspective through verbal and written communication.
First interviews will be held w/b 6th May 2024 via Microsoft Teams. Second interviews will be held soon after. The role is to start as soon as possible. Please note this role will be subject to a DBS check.
Unfortunately, due to the expected volume of applications and our small team, we will not be able to acknowledge every application. If you have not heard from us by 6th May you have not been successful on this occasion.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Job title: Chief Operating Officer
Salary: £65,000 to £70,000 per annum depending on experience
Position: Permanent
Hours: 40 hours per week
Holidays: 25 days excluding Bank Holidays
Responsible to: CEO
Location: 9 Kingside Business Park, Ruston Road, Woolwich, SE18 5BX
Please note this is not a hybrid role.
About First Step Trust:
First Step Trust (FST) is a registered charity providing access to work experience and employment opportunities for people (referred to as workforce) with mental health challenges, learning disabilities, a history of offending and other socio-economic disadvantages, with a key aim to provide opportunities for people who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).
The charity currently operates a garage and a catering business, both focused on providing real-life work experience for these learners. FST has over thirty years' experience as a provider of employability programmes and has successfully run the commercial aspects of the business, creating a solid balance sheet with healthy reserves.
In recent years, FST has been exploring new ways of helping people overcome barriers to learning including, low levels of literacy/numeracy and debilitating anxiety in formal situations e.g. exams or interviews.
Through FST's ground breaking work using Virtual Reality (VR) to upskill our workforce members and engage learners in secure mental health facilities, we have recognised the potential of assistive and emerging technologies as a real game-changer for the people we work with. The technology enables us to do things never before possible. We have, with the support of Halfords Autocentres and the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), developed an innovative programme which offers high quality training in a safe environment that does not require any written work.
This led us to identify the need for new ways of enabling and 'scaffolding' learning that will combat some of the wider psychosocial barriers including 'fear of learning', the impact of e.g. learning disabilities, Autism, negative peer pressure and reoffending behaviours. A recent Resolution Foundation report suggests that current "low rates of training among the least educated are troubling, given international evidence showing that there are higher returns to adult education for these individuals." Research suggests that AI/ machine learning could help us overcome these.
We have been supported by two Ufi VocTech Trust grants to deliver VR supported training to these communities of learners furthest away from learning and work. The route to market for our products is into the automotive industry directly, but is also being commissioned by NHS and criminal justice/mental health services as a way to introduce those in secure environments to potential future work opportunities.
These digital developments form part of the charity's strategy for embracing digital innovation to better serve our client base and grow the market we are able to serve beyond those in our local areas.
About the role:
As the COO, you will support the CEO in executing their strategic plans and directives, while overseeing the efficacy of the organisation’s strategy and implementing changes needed for the growth and development of the organisation. Ultimately your purpose is to support the continued success and growth of the organisation through good management, communication and relationship-building, without compromising on our commitment to working with people who use our service as colleagues..
About you:
You will be a senior manager who has energy and drive as well as sound judgement. On top of a strong track record in an operational position, you will have the breadth of experience to oversee our operations strategy and systems, commercial activity, budget management, monitoring and evaluation and fundraising. You will have a proven track record of success in senior-level general or commercial management. You will be a clear, analytical thinker who will strengthen the leadership of our charity. You will be an excellent manager of people, able to support people with varying skills and abilities, who may come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Key objectives for this role:
Ensure the smooth running of all First Step Trust’s core operations including our commercial activities, people, budgetary control, fundraising, HR, office, facilities and IT.
Work closely with our CEO and Board of Trustees to lead on developing First Step Trust’s next 3-year business plan.
Key responsibilities:
Direct line management of operations staff.
Directing and controlling the work and resources of the organisation ensuring that it achieves its mission and objectives.
Oversee and develop systems for our volunteers’ development and training.
Lead on all aspects of budget management.
Oversee production of the annual report.
Develop our fundraising strategy, working with our CEO. Pursue new sources of funding to support existing operations and new work.
Lead on funder and grant management.
Develop a building and facilities improvement plan including fabric of the building, equipment and IT.
Person specification:
Experience and skills (Essential)
Senior level operational management experience
Experience of developing strategy and business plans
Track record of line managing staff (and volunteer) and teams.
Strong budget management expertise.
Strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities, with the ability to define the problem, assess options, recommend solutions and drive to a decision.
Excellent communications skills, including the ability to effectively communicate with a wide range of people at all levels.
Expertise in charity regulatory matters and compliance
Knowledge of data protection including GDPR
Good working knowledge of safeguarding requirements
Experience and skills (desirable)
Experience of IT infrastructure
Experience of fundraising and funder management
Experience working in the charity and not-for-profit sector
Experience working with vulnerable and disadvantaged people
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
About the job:
We are now looking to appoint an Events & Sponsorship Coordinator who will coordinate a strategic events plan that aligns with our objectives, brand, and values, promotes our work to our core audience of leaders, teachers and trainers in the FE and Skills sector and builds strong and lasting relationships with partners and stakeholders.
Your profile
The role will report into the Events & Sponsorship Manager and will be responsible for assisting in coordinating and project managing a varied portfolio of events, including an annual member conference, internal staff events, roundtables, and a range of face-to-face and online events as well as overseeing the ETF’s presence at sector trade shows and conferences, working with the events manager to proactively seek impactful speaking and sponsorship opportunities to help build the profile and raise awareness of our work within the FE and Skills sector, and produce corporate display materials and collateral for events, giving consideration to sustainability, and working closely with the marketing team to ensure brand guidelines are upheld.
The successful candidate will have:
The successful candidate will:
- Be educated to degree level or equivalent
- Excellent organisational skills; able to demonstrate capability in multiple task management, prioritise workload and evidence of success in delivering outcomes to agreed timescales and tight deadlines.
- Solution orientated – problem solver, flexible, adaptable & resilient
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and work effectively across teams and with a variety of people both internal and external to the organisation.
- Experience of project managing activities or events from inception to delivery
- Data literacy – experience of data management, manipulation, analysis, interpretation and reporting
- Experience in building stakeholder relationships with knowledge of increasing engagement and participation
- Skills in administering and monitoring budgets.
- An understanding of the FE Sector
If you are an exceptional candidate who would like to make an impact and enjoy working in a vibrant and cooperative environment, we will welcome your application.
Applicants should apply by submitting a CV and cover letter (600 words maximum), outlining how you fulfil the requirements of this role.
Information
Salary: Band B
Contract: Permanent
Location: London, Victoria
Deadline for applications: 26th April at 5PM