School programme leader jobs in belfast

BACKGROUND   

Magic Breakfast’s mission is to end child morning hunger in the UK now and for good. The latest research suggests that 2.7 million children are at risk of hunger, meaning one in five children don’t have enough to eat. When a child is too hungry to learn, they struggle to concentrate, absorb information, and manage their emotions, causing them to fall behind in their studies.

Magic Breakfast provides a nutritious breakfast to over 300,000 children and young people every school day. We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target children most in need without barrier or stigma.

We are now at an exciting point in our journey as we launch Nourishing Futures, our long-term strategy, which will scale our impact and redefine breakfast spaces not only as places to eat, but as places to thrive.

To support the delivery of this strategy, we are evolving our Business Development function with the creation of a new role – Head of Business Development. This role will enable continue growth and investment from public funding sources, whilst ensuring that we are able and positioned to capitalise on the growing number of commercial opportunities. It will also lead a move  towards more innovative and blended income models across England, Wales and Scotland.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the Business Development function as an innovation hub, proactively horizonscanningfor opportunities across public funding, commercial activity, and philanthropicgiving. Ensure the team can respond with agility and flex resources to pursue the moststrategic and sizeable opportunities, including blended income streams and complex,multi-strand bids or partnerships that span commissioning, corporate, and philanthropy.

• Coach, lead and support the Business Development team (BD Manager England &Wales, BD Manager Scotland, BD Executive), setting clear objectives, KPIs, and expectations for income growth and performance and ensuring a values-driven culture.

• Work collaboratively across the fundraising leadership team to ensure it operates as a cohesive, high-performing unit that acts with agility to plan, pivot and make strategic decisions that maximise opportunities and drive growth.

• Ensure compliance with procurement processes, contracts, GDPR, safeguarding, and relevant charity law, embedding ethical business development across the function and taking responsibilities for operationalising of and adherence to all of Magic Breakfast’s policies and processes.

• Drive growth in public funding by securing contracts with local authorities, devolved governments, health and education commissioners, multi-academy trusts, and other public bodies.

• Oversee the preparation of high-quality tenders, bids, and proposals, ensuring they are evidence-based, competitive, and strategically aligned.

• Identify and pursue complex, multi-strand funding opportunities that bring together commissioned income, philanthropy, and corporate support.

• Apply a strong understanding of Magic Breakfast’s goals, strategies, and business plan to inform Business Development activity, ensuring all initiatives are aligned with organisational priorities and contribute to long-term objectives.

•  Conduct annual planning and budgeting in partnership with the Director of Fundraising & Development, setting, measuring, and reporting against agreed KPIs.

Please see job description for reponsibilities. 

WHAT WE OFFER

At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to bring their whole self to work.

APPLICATION PROCCESS

Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, recruitment @ magicbreakfast. com

Shortlisting - w/c 1st December

Interview 1 - 8th December

Interview 2 - 15th December

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Are you passionate about school libraries? Do you believe in the power of school libraries to transform children and young people’s experiences in education? Can you communicate confidently to a wide audience and range of stakeholders?  

The School Library Association (SLA) supports approximately 2000 members working in schools across the UK with advice, training and advocacy. The School Library Lead will be at the forefront of our member offer and outreach, to help us deliver on our mission to support all those working in school libraries, so that more children and young people reach their full potential through the school library.   

This role will lead on providing advice, inspiration and support for schools looking to develop their school library provision and all the benefits this brings. An expert in school libraries, you will be comfortable supporting members 1:1, delivering training to larger audiences, providing consultancy to schools and sector organisations, writing training and resources, or preparing book recommendations. An exciting opportunity for someone experienced in school libraries with knowledge of the curriculum, teaching and learning and children’s books, you will be the first port of call for library advice and expertise, contributing to the growth and sustainability of the membership network.

You will be experienced in developing relationships with a variety of stakeholders at all levels relish a busy role. This will include supporting our Branch network, collaborating on initiatives for development, delivery and new projects as they come online. As resident children’s book expert, you will support with programmes and projects such as the SLA Information Book Award and member book-related events. You will work with your SLA colleagues to develop and deliver high-quality member events and training as well as advocacy events to raise awareness of the importance of school libraries. Using your sector insight, you will identify opportunities for development of initiatives that will support the SLA vision and mission enabling us to reach more children and young people through our work.  This is a busy and rewarding role and will suit someone with passion and resilience. 

This is a full time role working throughout the year (37 hours per week). Find out more about the role including full job description and how to apply by downloading the job specification pack. 

Application deadline: 19th December 

Interviews: First round interview (online): 13th/14th January

Second round interview in person TBC: 20th/22nd January 

Applications without a covering letter will not be considered. No agencies please.   

Due to the volume of applications we cannot provide individual feedback. We really appreciate your interest. If you haven’t heard from us within four weeks of the deadline, it means we’ve moved forward with other candidates on this occasion. We encourage you to apply again in the future. Please note we may close recruitment early should the right candidate be identified.  

About the Foundation
We’re an independent charitable foundation funded by Lloyds Banking Group. We work in partnership with small and local charities, people and communities, changing lives and working towards a more just and compassionate society.

This is an exciting time to join Lloyds Bank Foundation. We are coming to the end of our strategy period and under the leadership of a new CEO, we are developing and rolling out our new strategy, brand and values. We believe this will enable us to turbocharge our work, allowing us to have an even bigger impact to create social change and cohesion and ensuring people in England and Wales are in a good place.

About the Programme
The Foundation has been awarded a £2.1m grant by the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) to deliver a pilot as part of its Grant Holder Support programme. This pilot, Investing in the Power of Civil Society (IIPCS), will support up to 640 charities across the Northwest, Southwest of England and Yorkshire and Humber.

Delivered in partnership with eight organisations — IVAR, Groundwork UK and local trusts, CAST, The School for Social Entrepreneurs, NCVO, Voice4Change England, the AVOCADO Foundation and Access (advisory) — the pilot will offer diagnostic-led, tailored and relational support to help organisations strengthen their work.

Support will focus on resilience, environmental impact, readiness for AI and digital technology, enabling participating charities to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. With a strong emphasis on equity and access, the pilot is designed to ensure organisations of all sizes and backgrounds can benefit.

We will be using a test-and-learn approach — trying out new ways of supporting charities, learning from what works and what doesn’t, and using those insights to improve future programmes. This approach will help shape NLCF’s future support for both grant holders and grant seekers, strengthen the Foundation and partners’ own development practice, and contribute to wider learning across the sector.

About the Role

As Programme Lead, you’ll have overall responsibility for the successful delivery of this ambitious and collaborative pilot. You’ll lead a multi-partner consortium, oversee a £2.1m budget, and ensure that up to 640 charities receive high-quality, equitable support.

You’ll manage delivery, governance, performance, and learning, while championing a test-and-learn approach that generates insights for the Foundation, the National Lottery Community Fund, and the wider sector. You’ll also lead a small team and play an active role in the Foundation’s leadership group.

This is a strategic and hands-on role for someone who thrives in complexity, values collaboration, and is passionate about strengthening small and local charities.

The Benefits

• Salary of £56,501 per annum (FTE)
• There is flexibility as to where this role is based; however, regular travel to London and across England will be required, with some overnight stays
• A further list of benefits can be found here on the Lloyds Bank Foundation website. 

About You
You are an experienced programme leader with a strong track record of delivering complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives in the charity, social or funding sectors. You bring a deep understanding of the voluntary sector, particularly the needs of small and community-led organisations.

You are confident managing partnerships, budgets, and governance structures, and skilled at translating strategy into delivery.

You are a collaborative leader who can inspire and support a team, while championing equity, learning, and continuous improvement.

To be considered for this role, you will need:

• Proven experience leading complex programmes or partnerships with accountability for delivery, budget, risk, and reporting.
• A strong commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in programme design and delivery.
• Experience managing multi-stakeholder partnerships and collaborative delivery models.
• A solid understanding of how to support and develop small and community-led organisations.
• Excellent people leadership and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Confidence in representing programmes externally and influencing funders or decision-makers.

Experience with test-and-learn approaches, diagnostic tools, or equity-led programme design would be an advantage.

We are hoping for an immediate start for the position or as soon as possible thereafter.

So, if you’re looking to make a meaningful impact as a Programme lead, please apply via the button shown. 

• The deadline for applications is Sunday 7th December at 23:30
• Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held online on Friday 19th December.

This academic year, we will be expanding our work significantly, supporting close to 3,000 young people from Cornwall to Northumberland. The majority of this growth will be through a one-year project we are running in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation.

This project is a randomised control trial (RCT) of our Peer to Peer coaching programme, where we will be working with an additional 50 new secondary schools. We have seen consistently strong impact from this programme on the attainment, social & emotional development, and school attendance of disadvantaged young people for many years. This EEF supported RCT now gives us the opportunity to test this impact at significant scale, specifically on the maths attainment, maths self-efficacy, and school attendance of disadvantaged Y10 and Y7 pupils.

To support with the delivery of this work, we are looking to recruit a part time (2-3 days per week) Programme Manager based in Cornwall, to start as soon as possible, and deliver programmes through to July 2026. We welcome applications from candidates seeking either a fixed-term or freelance contract, depending on individual circumstances.

You will have end-to-end ownership of your own allocation of programmes, which may involve a mixture of Peer to Peer, Core and LifeCycle programmes. Whilst delivering our programmes you will be required to build excellent relationships with our school and university partners, support with training and developing our undergraduate volunteers, use our evaluation frameworks to assess impact, and lead on conversations related to retention and expansion.

Candidates will be required to travel to secondary schools across Cornwall, with occasional trips to Plymouth and other locations in the South West. Access to a car will be required. At times team members may be asked to travel to a location outside of their region, but this will be rare and sufficient notice and TOIL will be given where appropriate.

The majority of direct delivery in schools will begin in November.

Whilst there is the potential for a permanent role beyond the length of this project, this will be based on our levels of school retention and business development, and so cannot be guaranteed.

You will flourish in this role if you have a genuine passion and ‘knack’ for working with young people and supporting them to succeed, as well as being organised, motivated, and able to think on your feet quickly. If that sounds like you, please get in touch!

Role details Managing and delivering programmes

● Coordinate and run multiple in-school and online programmes, typically requiring travel to schools most working days.

● Set timelines for programme start and finish dates.

● 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 Key Stage 3 and 4.

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

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

● Report regularly to the Programmes Team Leader on key performance indicators and programme updates.

● Build and maintain high quality relationships with pupils, schools, and universities.

● Collect data and write impact reports and case studies for each programme. Expanding our reach and impact:

● Ensure retention of schools and universities within the region by delivering high quality programmes, and leading retention, renewal, and expansion conversations with partners.

● Support the growth of our network of schools, Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), Local Education Authorities, and universities in your region.

● Contribute to programme design, take part in a working group and whole team meetings.

● Gather and create content for social media and marketing materials.

● Running pupil and school leader focus groups.

● Carry out other tasks that are within the scope and spirit of the role.

Person Specification Essential characteristics and experience

Below are the key attributes candidates will need to be confident of demonstrating.

● Passion for social mobility. We have big aims and are looking for those who share our desire to make education fairer in the UK.

● Ability to think on your feet. Delivering programmes with young people can be unpredictable, so you will need to be comfortable working reactively to solve challenges at short notice.

● Programme or project management experience. In particular the ability to be organised, plan ahead, and manage competing priorities and timelines.

● Experience with young people. Comfortable running a session or delivering a workshop with a group of young people from age 8-18. (Please note, the vast majority of our programmes are at secondary phase).

● Relationship building and facilitating. This is a public-facing role so you will be involved in communicating and delivering workshops to groups as well as communicating our mission to a wide range of stakeholders (business leaders, senior members of MATs, universities etc.).

● Excellent communication skills, particularly public speaking. You should be comfortable talking to groups of 5 or 500.

● Ability to make quick and clear decisions.

Desired characteristics and experience

Below are attributes that would be useful in the role. However candidates that have less experience in these areas should not be discouraged from applying. 

● Understanding of the specific barriers to social mobility, both nationally and regionally, and the context for the young people we work with.

● Experience of sales or partnership management/development, particularly with schools or universities.

● Experience of working in education settings.

● Existing network of relevant sector contacts in schools and/or universities, or demonstrable ability to quickly establish new connections independently.

Key details Benefits (for employed staff)

● An opportunity to contribute to an exciting charity with scope to input widely and take on new responsibilities.

● 28 annual leave days (pro rata).

● Fridays off during non-term-time (pro rata).

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

● Access to BrightHR perks, including a range of retail discounts. Key Information:

● Annual salary for fixed-term position: £30,579 (pro rata)

● For freelance contracts: day rate typically in the range of £180-£220 per day depending on experience and location. Freelancers will be engaged on a self-employed basis.

● Starting as soon as possible through to week ending 31st July 2026

● Remote role with travel to schools across Cornwall. The majority of working days will require a trip to 1-2 schools in your region.

● Reporting to our Programmes Team Leader 

Please note this is a remote based role with regualr travel across the South West.

How to apply

● Please apply with a CV and brief covering letter 

● Please include whether you are applying on an employed or freelance basis, your earliest start date, and (if freelance) your proposed day rate.

● There will be one interview round, likely conducted weeks beginning 17th and 24th November

Job Title: Birmingham Project Officer

Salary: £28,000

Position Type: Full time / Fixed term (12 months)

Reports to: Scaling Manager

Based at: Remote, with travel to schools in Birmingham

Working Hours: 5 days a week, 9am-5pm (flexible)

Pension: School Food Matters pays pension contributions at 7% of pensionable earnings

Holiday: 31 days including bank holidays that fall on working days. Holidays must be taken during the school holidays

This role requires occasional work outside of core hours (for example, if visiting a school breakfast club). It also requires travel to schools across Birmingham, so access to a car would be desirable. Training for delivery of the programme will be provided online and in person, and you will be expected to travel outside of Birmingham for some of these training sessions.

Background to School Food Matters

At School Food Matters we believe that school food can unlock a happier, healthier, more sustainable future for every child. We want a school food system that delivers for all children, so they can enjoy nutritious, delicious and sustainable school food and leave school with an informed and positive relationship with food. To achieve this, we campaign for a better school food system, bringing the voices of children, parents, and teachers to government policy, and deliver fully funded food education programmes in schools across the country.

Background to Nourish

Our Nourish programme supports schools to create a food environment that puts children and young people's nutrition first. The evidence-based, multi-component programme helps schools to develop action plans and policies to cover the food served across the whole school day. Nourish uses a collaborative whole school approach to food involving everyone across the school community to create lasting positive change.

Job purpose

· To deliver Nourish in 6-8 schools in Birmingham (primary, secondary and SEND settings)

Key tasks include

· Support with recruitment of schools to take part in Nourish

· Complete in person food audits in schools looking across the whole school day

· Support schools to create and deliver a food improvement plan (action plan)

· Develop and deliver workshops in schools to staff, parents and students based on their action plan (e.g. assemblies, cooking sessions, school food standards training, packed lunch advice, food ed/sensory tasting sessions)

· Support schools to write a school food policy

· Build relationships and work closely with teachers, teaching assistants, chefs, kitchen teams and senior leaders in schools to improve the food on offer to students

· Collect data and maintain accurate records relating to the project

· Work closely with our Evaluation team to complete all monitoring and evaluation

· Work in collaboration with other Birmingham school food partners

· Share learnings with other SFM regional Project Officers

· Gather content for our Comms team (website and social media platforms)

· Keep Scaling Manager fully updated on progress

· Keep up to date with safeguarding requirements and reporting procedures

· Maintaining the ethos of the charity and positively promoting our work at all times

· You will also be expected to undertake any other tasks relevant to the affairs of SFM that may arise from time to time.  Therefore, being flexible and approaching the job with an open and positive mindset is essential.

Person specification

Essential

· Registered nutritionist or advanced understanding of nutritional guidelines and health promotion

· Good interpersonal skills, with experience of building relationships

· Confident engaging with a variety of audiences (students, headteachers, school staff and parents), including communications via email, virtual and face to face meetings with the ability to deliver workshops & presentations

· Excellent administrative and organisational skills with great attention to detail

· Excellent IT skills including excel, word and email

· Able to work independently and remote

· Self-motivated and optimistic with a can-do attitude

· Ability to work in a team and seek help when needed

Desirable

· Experience of engaging and working with schools and/or communities

· Experience of working for a charity or not for profit organisation

· Knowledge in food education and children’s health

· Access to car

Job Title: Hertfordshire Project Assistant

Salary: £27,150 (London Fringe weighting)

Position Type: Full time/Fixed term (until December 2028)

Reports to: Scaling Manager

Based at: Remote, with travel to schools in Hertfordshire

Working Hours: 5 days a week, 9am-5pm (flexible)

Pension: School Food Matters matches pension contributions at 7% of pensionable earnings

Holiday: 31 days including bank holidays that fall on working days. Holidays must be taken during the school holidays

This role requires occasional work outside of core hours (for example, if visiting a school breakfast club). It also requires travel to schools across Hertfordshire, so access to a car would be desirable. Training for delivery of the programme will be provided online and in person, and you will be expected to travel outside of Hertfordshire for some of these sessions.

Background to School Food Matters

At School Food Matters we believe that school food can unlock a happier, healthier, more sustainable future for every child. We want a school food system that delivers for all children, so they can enjoy nutritious, delicious and sustainable school food and leave school with an informed and positive relationship with food. To achieve this, we campaign for a better school food system, bringing the voices of children, parents, and teachers to government policy, and deliver fully funded food education programmes in schools across the country.

Background to Nourish

Our Nourish programme supports schools to create a food environment that puts children and young people's nutrition first. The evidence-based, multi-component programme helps schools to develop action plans and policies to cover the food served across the whole school day. Nourish uses a collaborative whole school approach to food involving everyone across the school community to create lasting positive change.

Job purpose

· To support two Project Officers with the delivery of Nourish in 40 schools in Hertfordshire (primary, secondary and SEND settings) over 3 years

Key tasks include

· Recruit schools to take part in Nourish

· Shadow and support project team to deliver in person food audits in schools

· Build relationships and work closely with teachers, teaching assistants, cooks, kitchen teams and senior leaders in schools in Hertfordshire to improve the food they offer their students

· Provide practical support to the project team with setting up workshops including paperwork and food shopping

· Provide admin support to the project team

· Tailor Nourish resources for Hertfordshire schools where required

· Collect data and maintain accurate records relating to the project

· Gather content for our comms team, website and social media platforms

· Keep project team fully updated on progress

· Keep up to date with safeguarding requirements and reporting procedures.

· Maintaining the ethos of the charity and positively promoting our work at all times

· You will also be expected to undertake any other tasks relevant to the affairs of SFM that may arise from time to time. Therefore, being flexible and approaching the job with an open and positive mindset is essential.

Person Specification

Essential

· Excellent administrative and organisational skills with great attention to detail

· Excellent IT skills including excel, word and email

· Ability to work in a team, and seek help when needed

· Comfortable engaging with variety of audiences (students, school staff and parents), incl. writing and responding to email, conducting telephone, virtual and face to face meetings, and running workshops

· Self-motivated and optimistic with a can-do attitude

Desirable

· Experience of working for a charity or not for profit organisation

· Experience of working in schools

· An interest in food education and children’s health

· Access to a car

Job Title:  Gardener Project Officer for Young Marketeers Knowsley

Position Type: Freelance

Reports to: Project Coordinator

Based at:  Home-working and at schools in Knowsley

Working Hours: 17.5 days @ £165 per day from February – July (£2,887.50) plus 10 x school gardening sessions at £110 per session plus 1 day planning @ £220 (£1,320)

Contract: Temporary

Job Purpose

· To manage the delivery of Young Marketeers in Knowsley in five primary schools

Background to School Food Matters

At School Food Matters we believe that school food can unlock a happier, healthier, more sustainable future for every child. We want a school food system that delivers for all children, so they can enjoy nutritious, delicious and sustainable school food and leave school with an informed and positive relationship with food. To achieve this, we campaign for a better school food system, bringing the voices of children, parents, and teachers to government policy, and deliver fully funded food education programmes in schools across the country.

Young Marketeers

This much-loved programme was started in London in 2012. It is now running in 16 cities across England.  We have been commissioned to deliver the programme in Knowsley by Knowsley Public Health. The programme provides hands-on opportunities for children from primary schools to grow fruit and veg from seed to sell at their local market. Young Marketeers is also a platform for School Food Matters to promote food education to schools and communities as a way to support children to live happy and healthy lives. Children learn the art of growing veg from seed, and market traders will share their secrets on how to create a winning market stall. Primary schools will be visited by our gardener in March/April and then again in May/June and receive further tips on how to ensure a bumper crop. Then in July, they head to the market to sell their produce, and to meet the Mayor!

Key Tasks include:

· Assist with recruitment of five schools to take part in Young Marketeers

· Build and maintain relationships with teachers, teaching assistants and senior leaders to ensure the smooth running of the project

· Build and support relationships with contacts in partner organisations

· Schedule, organise and deliver

o One assembly in each school

o Two food growing sessions in each school

o One market trader training session in each school

o Market Day in the city centre in July for all schools

· Maintain accurate records relating to the programme

• Complete monitoring and evaluation forms in accordance with instructions from our Evaluation team
• Take photos of workshops and events where possible
• Keep Project Coordinator fully updated on progress

· Keep up to date with safeguarding requirements and reporting procedures

• Maintain the ethos of the charity and positively promote our work at all times

Person specification

 Essential

· Experience of delivering food growing sessions to children

· Knowledge of fruit and vegetable growing

· Excellent administrative and organisational skills with great attention to detail

· Excellent IT skills including excel, word and email

· Experience of building relationships with partner organisations and individuals

· Ability to work in a team, and seek help when needed

· Self-motivated and optimistic with a can-do attitude

Desirable

· Experience of working for a charity or not for profit organisation

· Experience of working in primary schools and engaging children

Job Title: Hertfordshire Project Officer

Salary: £29,500 (London Fringe weighting)

Position Type: Full time/Fixed term (until December 2028)

Reports to: Scaling Manager

Based at: Remote, with travel to schools in Hertfordshire

Working Hours: 5 days a week, 9am-5pm (flexible)

Pension: School Food Matters matches pension contributions at 7% of pensionable earnings

Holiday: 31 days including bank holidays that fall on working days. Holidays must be taken during the school holidays

This role requires occasional work outside of core hours (for example, if visiting a school breakfast club). It also requires travel to schools across Hertfordshire, so access to a car would be desirable. Training for delivery of the programme will be provided online and in person, and you will be expected to travel outside of Hertfordshire for some of these sessions.

Background to School Food Matters

At School Food Matters we believe that school food can unlock a happier, healthier, more sustainable future for every child. We want a school food system that delivers for all children, so they can enjoy nutritious, delicious and sustainable school food and leave school with an informed and positive relationship with food. To achieve this, we campaign for a better school food system, bringing the voices of children, parents, and teachers to government policy, and deliver fully funded food education programmes in schools across the country.

Background to Nourish

Our Nourish programme supports schools to create a food environment that puts children and young people's nutrition first. The evidence-based, multi-component programme helps schools to develop action plans and policies to cover the food served across the whole school day. Nourish uses a collaborative whole school approach to food involving everyone across the school community to create lasting positive change.

Job purpose

· To deliver Nourish in 40 schools in Hertfordshire (primary, secondary and SEND settings) over 3 years in a delivery team of two Project Officers and a Project Assistant.

Key tasks include

· Support with recruitment of schools to take part in Nourish

· Complete in person food audits in schools looking across the whole school day

· Support schools to create and deliver a food improvement plan (action plan)

· Develop and deliver workshops in schools to staff, parents and students based on their action plan (e.g. assemblies, cooking sessions, school food standards training, packed lunch advice, food ed/sensory tasting sessions)

· Support schools to write a school food policy

· Build relationships and work closely with teachers, teaching assistants, cooks, kitchen teams and senior leaders in schools to improve the food they offer their students

· Collect data and maintain accurate records relating to the project

· Work closely with University of Hertfordshire and our Evaluation team to complete all monitoring and evaluation

· Work in collaboration with Hertfordshire project delivery team

· Gather content for our comms team (website and social media platforms)

· Keep Scaling Manager fully updated on progress

· Keep up to date with safeguarding requirements and reporting procedures

· Maintaining the ethos of the charity and positively promoting our work at all times

· You will also be expected to undertake any other tasks relevant to the affairs of SFM that may arise from time to time.  Therefore, being flexible and approaching the job with an open and positive mindset is essential.

Person specification

Essential

· Registered nutritionist or advanced understanding of nutritional guidelines and health promotion

· Good interpersonal skills, with experience of building relationships

· Confident engaging with a variety of audiences (students, headteachers, school staff and parents), including communications via email, virtual and face to face meetings with the ability to deliver workshops & presentations

· Excellent administrative and organisational skills with great attention to detail

· Excellent IT skills including excel, word and email

· Able to work independently and remote

· Self-motivated and optimistic with a can-do attitude

· Ability to work in a team and seek help when needed

Desirable

· Experience of engaging and working with schools and/or communities

· Experience of working for a charity or not for profit organisation

· Knowledge in food education and children’s health

· Access to a car

Do your best work, for the right reasons.

Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit working in partnership with teachers to create the highest-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)

• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

• Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback

�� About the Role

We are recruiting an EYFS curriculum lead to join Oak’s Education Team. Many schools using Oak’s new KS1-4 curricula have asked if we have plans to further develop our Reception offer, and as part of the DfE’s Best Start in Life strategy they have commissioned us to refresh our Reception curriculum and lessons ready to use for the 2027-28 school year.

This is a unique opportunity to join Oak in ensuring that our existing Reception lessons developed in the pandemic can be updated to be in-class exemplar curricula and lesson resources to support teachers fully aligned to latest evidence, best practice and the EYFS framework; we expect that to achieve this they will be different to the lessons we made with partners to support remote education in the pandemic. The successful candidate will work closely with partners within and outside of Oak to oversee the iteration of our Reception curriculum and lesson design and then produce resources across learning areas (excluding phonics). They will also be a visible ambassador and spokesperson for EYFS and for Oak National Academy. 

EYFS knowledge, experience, curriculum leadership, delivery and collaboration skills are critical for this role.

This is a full-time role with an expected start date of April 2026, though we can explore an earlier start with the successful candidate. We will consider flexible working requests. You’ll work predominantly remotely, joining colleagues in person only for occasional events and team activities. Our core collaboration days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

�� What You’ll Be Doing

• Responsible for the continuous improvement of full curriculum packages in the Reception year.

• Maintain specialist expertise in EYFS and be the authority across Oak and more widely across the sector.

• Using our programme management and curriculum design approach, and working with our curriculum partners, lead the redevelopment of Oak’s curriculum and resources in Reception.

• Establish strong relationships with the EYFS community.

• Represent Oak externally at conferences, webinars and EYFS events, both in-person and online.

• Manage individual curriculum partner relationships and contract performance management.

• As a member of the Oak Team, you will contribute to the wider success and culture of the organisation.

• Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.

• Deputise for the Head of Curriculum Design and take on other general responsibilities as required.

�� What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years experience of teaching and/or leadership in EYFS settings.

• Extensive knowledge of latest research and practice in curriculum design, instruction and assessment in EYFS.

• Hold qualified teacher status (QTS) with direct experience of teaching in a school/schools in England in EYFS and Key Stage 1.

• Experience of teacher development e.g. EYFS Phase Lead; University PGCE or SCITT mentor/lead.

• Proven success managing high profile and sensitive senior relationships. 

• Experience of curriculum design and delivery across subjects in EYFS.

The successful candidate will have a desire to contribute in all areas to ensure Oak is successful. You will be comfortable working at pace, with a range of digital systems (including proprietary ones as required) and you will continuously look at ways that the team can keep getting better. You will be excellent at working as part of a remote team, building relationships and managing your time effectively.

�� Our Benefits

If you're joining us from a school, here’s what you can expect in a role that’s still rooted in education, but shaped for flexibility, balance, and impact beyond the classroom.

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28).

• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year to give you a nice festive break.

• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution, which can be varied as you choose). Please note this is a workplace pension rather than the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

• A 36-hour working week (not tied to term-time patterns or school-day hours), with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off.

• Fully remote working - we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred.

• Twice-yearly 'whole Oak' in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun, as well as some role/team-based in-person events

• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust.

�� Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

�� Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here.

• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time.

• Closing date: We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may close the role early.

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you could do your life’s best work, we’d love to hear from you.

Next steps

You’ll answer some questions related to your day-to-day job. Your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans).

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next stage, which will consist of two-stage remote interviews.

We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process, we'll share how well you performed.

We aim to begin interviews in early/mid December 2025.

We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, please submit your application promptly to avoid missing out.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

Additional information/context for the role and Oak's work in Early Years.

As part of the government’s Best Start in Life strategy, the Department for Education has asked Oak to redevelop our reception resources so teachers can access optional, adaptable, high-quality materials to support their work in the classroom and help them manage workload.

As you know, Oak set up during the pandemic to support teachers and pupils with remote learning. At this time Oak developed a range of resources for reception.

While usage was high during the pandemic, these resources are not really suitable for reception teachers to use in class and an update is needed.

Over the last few years Oak has redeveloped all of its curriculum and lesson resources for key stages 1-4 across all national curriculum subjects for in-class use. They are very popular and used by around one in three teachers. You are probably familiar with their structure.

However, we’ll be taking a different approach for the updated reception content. At this age, children are best supported to develop in a different way so our reception resources will be designed to reflect their developmental and educational needs, and our resources will support the pedagogical needs of reception teachers. They will be developed using the best evidence of effective learning at this age and on the basis of best practice in the sector.

To make sure we get this right, we’ll be working closely with reception teachers, expert organisations and the wider early years sector to develop our resources. We’ll also create straightforward ways for reception teachers to explore the materials early on and share their thoughts as they develop.

Oak will be recruiting an EYFS curriculum specialist to lead this engagement with the sector and work with the Oak team to develop our product, the curriculum sequence and accompanying resources. We will share and iterate as we develop the new product and resources, and intend to have these ready in summer 2027 in time to teach in the 2027-28 academic year.

These updated reception resources will support children to make a smooth, successful progression from reception to key stage 1. They won’t cover phonics, as this is already well served by other providers, but they will fully align to the phonics approach.

And, as with all Oak resources, everything we produce will be high-quality, adaptable and entirely optional. They will comprise a model teachers can explore, draw on and adapt in ways that best suit their own curriculum and the needs of their pupils.

About the opportunity 

Working closely with the Fundraising Manager and Head of Philanthropy, you will support a range of fundraising activities, most predominantly researching new avenues for funding within trusts, foundations and corporate partners, completing grant applications, carrying out communications and reporting to existing funders and raising the profile of the charity through representing Action Tutoring at funder or networking events. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in the world of fundraising activities, working with a passionate, committed and driven team.

Closing date: Sunday, 30th November 2025
Interviews: Wednesday, 10th and Thursday 11th December 2025
Start date: Monday 1st February 2026
Contract and hours: Fixed term 12 month maternity cover contract. We are open to 0.6FTE to 1FTE for the right candidate. We offer flexible hours with 9.30-4 as core hours. A full working week is 37.5 hours.
Location: This role is remote. The candidate can be based anywhere in the England. Our London office address is: x+why, 8-10, Fivefields, Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH. Occasional travel may be required for this role.
 

Duties and responsibilities

• Research new opportunities for Action Tutoring to explore for fundraising and carry out initial enquiries to determine suitability to apply to trusts and foundations. 
• Prepare and submit grant applications to suitable trusts, foundations and corporates, carrying out careful research to ensure the applications are as strong as possible and include relevant data and case studies.
• Work alongside the Corporate Partnerships Team to encourage corporate support through donations or grants.
• Identify and lead on local fundraising opportunities in Action Tutoring’s nine key regions, for example researching and submitting applications for local grants and to local businesses.
• Research and determine suitability of profile raising opportunities or awards for Action Tutoring to apply to, such as corporate Charity of the Year opportunities, the Third Sector Awards and Charity Awards.

A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert.

Person specification 

Qualifications criteria: 

• Previous experience in fundraising, or transferable experience that shows strong writing skills.
• Right to work in the UK.

We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others: 

• Outstanding communicator; strong written and verbal communication skills; able to make an exciting and compelling case for support.
• Creative and ambitious.
• Proactive and tenacious personality; willing to seek out and pursue opportunities.
• Highly organised; able to prioritise, multi-task and manage work to deadlines.
• High computer literacy.
• Adaptable and open to learning and feedback.
• Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Committed to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children.

You will be likely be more successful in this role if you have: 

• Prior experience of fundraising work, particularly if it is within trusts and foundations. This could be in a paid role, or on a voluntary basis or as part of work experience.
• Experience of building relationships with stakeholders.