Regional Student Volunteering Officer Jobs in Brentford, Greater London

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in joining the CoachBright team as our new London Programme Officer.

We are a social mobility charity on a mission to support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds become confident, independent, and resilient learners so they can lead the lives they want.

There is an attainment and outcomes gap in the UK between disadvantaged pupils and their wealthier peers. This is exacerbated when pupils have lower confidence in their own abilities and potential. Upward social mobility is made even harder when pupils lack relatable role models who have been to university or have professional occupations. We want to change this!

Now, more than ever, it is essential that young people from disadvantaged back- grounds get the support they need to achieve their goals. That’s why we’re playing our part to narrow the gap and support a generation of pupils to be their best.

We are young, ambitious, and optimistic, and are looking for someone as passionate as we are about creating a socially just world. If you get out of bed to transform the life chances of young people and want to shape and grow a values-driven social mobility charity, we would love to hear from you.

Thanks,

The CoachBright team
 

The Challenge

Social mobility in the UK is still far from a reality: disadvantaged pupils are less likely to attend university/ high level apprenticeships, occupy top jobs and improve their standard of living over their parents than their peers. The divide has become even clearer since Covid-19.

The gap between most advantaged and least advantaged pupils’ employment and higher education destinations remains vast - and this leads to real-life consequences. There is still much more to be done.

As an award-winning, fast-moving charity our mission is to support young people from disadvantaged communities to identify and fulfil their potential. Working in partnership with schools, universities, and employers, we deliver academic and pastoral coaching programmes that improve pupils’ confidence, resilience, and independence, as well as their attainment.

With a recently written three-year strategy, and a new Chief Executive, we’re at anexciting stage of development and have ambitious plans to continue improving our im- pact and reach. This academic year, we are planning on supporting over 2,000 pupils across our three regional teams: London, the South East and the West Midlands.

Role description

We are looking for a self-motivated individual to enhance our work across London, where we have very strong existing school and university partnerships.

You will primarily be responsible for delivering our academic coaching programmes to pupils in both Primary and Secondary Schools across your region, and other regions when required. Typically we run programmes between the months of October-December, and February-June, where regular travel to schools in the region will be required.

As a Programme Officer you will also recruit, train and manage volunteers (typically current undergraduates from universities in your region), deliver in-school and online workshops, and contribute to the overall development of the region.

You will be delivering programmes in schools and with volunteers can be challenging, with every day looking a little different from the last. But it is ultimately extremely rewarding! You will flourish in this role if you enjoy thinking quickly, responding to challenges, and using your own initiative to get great outcomes for young people.

One of our core values at CoachBright is that ‘we believe coaching is transformative’. A coaching approach underpins everything we do from our programmes to the way we work with each other. As a result, every team member undertakes training to become an accredited coach, and becomes part of our Lifecycle coaching team, where we provide direct, 1:1 coaching to current university students and junior employees of our corporate partners. Once accredited you will have the opportunity to coach as part of this programme. 

Role Description

The London Programme Officer will be responsible for:

Programme coordination and delivery: 

• Coordinate and run multiple in-school and online programmes (core and peer to peer) across the region and, when required, in other regions.

• Set timelines for programme start and finish dates. 

• Visit schools to oversee programme quality and communicate with school staff  weekly to provide feedback after sessions. 

• Facilitate in-school or digital workshops for groups of pupils (typically KS3-5). 

• Plan and organise graduation trips to a local university for pupils on the programme.

• Coordinate and allocate coaches to school programmes, communicating with  them weekly and when needed arranging transport for them to schools.

• Collect data for monitoring and evaluation purposes, such as pre and post programme questionnaires, attendance records, and pupil and coach feedback.

• Report regularly to your Head of Region on key performance indicators and  programme updates.

• Contribute to the development of the region by supporting the Head of Region in generating new school leads and securing programmes. 

• Support a strong and supportive network of schools, Multi-Academy Trusts  (MATs).

• Build and maintain relationships with coaches, pupils and teachers. 

• Once accredited as a coach, coach on our Lifecycle programmes. 

Volunteer recruitment and management:

• Recruit and retain volunteer coaches (meeting minimum requirements set  termly). 

• Deliver coach training to volunteers in person and online. 

• Create a thriving community of social mobility advocates among university  students and young professionals. 

• Work with your Head of Region to develop and maintain  relationships with Universities, corporate partners and others. 

Other: 

• When required, lead on, and contribute to, projects that will positively impact the organisation as a whole.

• Embody our values and demonstrate commitment to our mission.

Essential characteristics and experience: 

• Passion for social mobility: we have big aims and are looking for those who share our desire to make education fairer in the UK, so a person’s background does not determine their future.

• Relationship building and facilitating: this is a public-facing role so you will love  delivering workshops to groups as well as communicating our mission to a wide range of stakeholders (businesses, senior members of MATs, universities etc.)

• Organisation: working in a fast paced organisation you’ll be able to work between different programmes and workstreams.

• Independence: this role requires you to work independently/alone from time to time in the office and/or from home.

• Resourcefulness: we’re a small, dedicated team - you must be a self-starter prepared for practical roles with lots of responsibility. A willingness to stay solution-focused with last minute challenges is a must!

• Experience with young people: Comfortable with running sessions and delivering workshops to groups of young people from age 8-18.

• Valid driver’s licence and access to your own vehicle: The role requires frequent travel to schools and universities across the region.

Desirable knowledge/experience:

• Experience recruiting volunteers.

• Experience measuring and evaluating impact.

• Knowledge of programme design, pedagogy or tutoring/coaching. 

• Knowledge of UK schools.

Key details

Benefits:

• An opportunity to contribute to a young, exciting charity with scope to input widely and take on new responsibilities.

• Starting Salary: £23,000  (plus London weighting of £3,000)

• Compressed hours policy: Option to work full-time hours over four days (Mon-Thurs).

• Annual Leave: 28 days (based on 7 hour working days; adjusted if on compressed hours).

• Hybrid working: Working one-two days from our London office.

• Training: We are a reflective organisation and keen to support your professional development. In particular, we offer each member of the team the opportunity to become a certified coach, as well as an annual CPD budget of £100.

• Access to a 24-hour employee assisted helpline facilitated independently by Health Assured.

• Access to BrightHR perks, providing team members with an array of discounts in various areas such as retail and technology. 

Key Information:

• Length: Permanent

• Hours: Full-Time, 35 hours per week (with some weekend/evening hours required  during volunteer recruitment and training periods which will be acknowledged in TOIL). 

• Opportunity for compressed hours as noted above.

• Reporting to: Head of London

• Start date: As soon as possible