Programme Leader
Location: London, Surrey, Berkshire, West Midlands, North West, Leeds and Bradford
Length of role: 11days (plus training)
Dates: October-November (see details below)
Job Description
We are looking for Programme Leaders to oversee our autumn programmeof between 48 and 84 young people and up to nine staff, working both residentially and in the local community in London, Surrey, Berkshire, West Midlands, North West England, Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield over a period of 11 days. Some regional variations apply regarding the length of the role.
The Programme Leader (PL) is responsible for both the overall running of the programme and management of seasonal staff. The PL is supported by the Assistant Programme Leader during the delivery of the residential part of our programme with behavioural management, but not as standard during the community based phases.
This role is suitable for an exceptional people manager with significant experience of working with young people. This is a fulfilling and demanding position which involves managing a team of staff and overseeing the pastoral care and development of between 48 and 84 sixteen-year-olds from mixed backgrounds.
About the Organisation
The Challenge is a fast-growing social enterprise that connects and inspires people across Britain to strengthen their communities.NCSis a programme that brings together young people from different backgrounds, builds their confidence, and challenges them to make a difference in their local community. In summer 2015, 24,000 young people across London, Surrey, Berkshire, the West Midlands and the North West will take part in our NCS programme.
Our programme is part of the National Citizen Service (NCS), a life-changing experience for 16 and 17-year-olds. The scheme is available to people from all backgrounds. Young people get the chance to do outdoor activities, meet new people and give something back to their communities. By taking part they learn new skills and have a great experience they can put on their CVs or college applications. NCS promotes:
- a more cohesive society by mixing participants from different backgrounds;
- a more responsible society by supporting young people’s transition into adulthood;
- a more engaged society by enabling young people to work together to create social action projects in their local communities.
Our NCS Programme
We bring together young people from across a community and challenge them to connect with people from different backgrounds, learn key skills for the workplace, and make a difference in their community. They achieve this by completing three challenges:
•NCS Personal Challenge (PC): Between four and seven socially mixed teams of young people bond through a week of challenging outdoor activities.
•NCS Team Challenge (TC): Teams return home and use their skills to experience serving the local community.
•NCS Real Challenge: Teams work to design and organise activities that will bring the local community together. The NCS Real Challenge Design (RCD)is the third part of the autumn programme and the NCS Real Challenge Action (RCA) takes place over weekends in November.
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All young people who complete our programmegraduate and are signposted into year-round volunteering, membership and social engagement opportunities through The Challenge Society.
About the Opportunity
A single programme lasts 11 days and includes outdoor activities, skill development and community service. We are looking for Programme Leaders who can commit to one programme over autumn.
The Programme Leader will:
•Act as the face of NCS The Challenge to all staff and participants
•Manage up to nine to ensure the highest quality facilitation and pastoral care for all participants
•Provide support for the development of staff
•Manage timings and processes of the staff team to ensure the programme runs to schedule
•Work closely with core staff to ensure effective delivery of the summer programme in line with our policies and processes
•Live residentially during the NCS Personal Challenge and NCS Team Challenge
All meals and accommodation are provided in the NCS Personal Challenge and during the NCS Team Challenge. Nomeals are provided during the NCS Real Challenge.The accommodation during the NCS Personal Challenge is generally in an outdoor activity centre and during the NCS Team Challenge is generally at a university campus; however, in some areas and during some parts of the programme, accommodation is at a campsite.
Training
All successful Programme Leaders will be asked to attend a compulsory training to be able to deliver our NCS programme.
Work dates
For each wave worked, the Programme Leader will work for 11 days during the autumn.
The work date options for a Programme Leader are below:
Please note that these opportunities are also available during February half term
Options / NCS PC / NCS TC / NCS RCD / NCS RCA12 / 23 to 26 October / 27 to 29 October / 7 to 8 November / 14 November, 21 November
13 / 24 to 27 October / 28 to 30 October / 7 to 8 November / 14 November, 21 November
14 / 26 to 29 October / 30 October to 1 November / 7 to 8 November / 14 November, 21 November
The role includesweekends.
About You
Candidates must demonstrate the following skills and characteristics:
Essential:
- Ability to inspire and lead a large team of staff and young people
- Experience of motivating groups of young people
- Experience of working in a residential environment
- Experience of making decisions under pressure
- Experience of managing projects and staff
- Experience of working in a fast-paced and demanding environment
We also look for all employees to show the following characteristics:
- Trust-building: Works hard to build trust with people. Brings people together in the community.
- Responsibility-taking: Takes responsibility for actions and attitudes. Claims and solves problems in the community.
- Understanding and Empathy: Works to understand others – their strengths, fears and needs. Ready to stand up for someone who is different from themselves.
Requirement
All staff who work on our NCSprogramme must have prior to starting work a returned satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) dated since 31January2014 and two satisfactory references regarding their suitability to work with young people. The Challenge will assist the application for, and pay for the processing of, a new DBS for staff members where required.
Further details
This is an excellent opportunity to be involved with an exciting programme which has tangible results for the young people involved.The role is demanding and fast-paced but highly rewarding.The compensation for this contract role is £1210per 11-day role. This payment includes pay in lieu of annual leave and is subject to tax and National Insurance deductions. There is no additional payment for attending training. Staff will be paid through The Challenge payroll on a monthly basis after completion of the programme. Staff can only claim for travel expenses incurred during the delivery of the programme, and not to and from either the residential or community part of the programme.
To apply
For further details and to apply, please visit
Our NCSprogramme is part of National Citizen Service.