Job description
Our Head of Children, Young People and Families leads the work of our Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) service and the Building Young Brixton (BYB) Partnership, and is a key part of the Senior Leadership team at High Trees, helping us achieve our ambitions across the board.
Our Children, Youth and Families work serves the Tulse Hill and wider Lambeth community, operating from our dedicated youth and play site at Tulse Hill Adventure Playground, where the CYPF team are based. We deliver a multi-faceted and integrated service allowing us to provide seamless support for children and young people from 8-18, including daily after school and weekend open access adventure play sessions, community and school based mentoring programmes, a work experience and youth leadership programme, and youth social action projects. We also deeply value collaboration with other youth and community organisations, and as Head of CYPF, you will also lead and contribute to a number of youth partnerships that we manage, including Building Young Brixton. This will require demonstrable experience of running a multifaceted service – delivering several projects and programmes simultaneously and managing a team of staff – with the strong organisational, people skills and a collaborative approach that this requires. You will be an advocate for community based youth and play services and passionate about the value and impact of play, as our core offer is centred around our after school and holiday offer at Tulse Hill Adventure Playground.
You will be based at Tulse Hill Adventure Playground, and as a strong and inspiring manager you will lead a team of youth and play practitioners to deliver a range of dynamic, exciting, and meaningful services, ensuring the children who need them most are supported to play, develop, and thrive. You will take both an ambitious, organised, yet hands on approach to your management of the service – we are a small but dynamic team and truly believe services are best when all are involved, from management to practitioners. You will bring enthusiasm and passion to ensure an exceptional service for the children and young people we work with and continue to inspire your team, and the wider Building Young Brixton team, to grow and expand our reach.
Our local community is at the centre of everything we do and as a community-based service you will also understand the value of and build on our excellent relationships with local residents, organisations and statutory services, and help champion and ensure strong coordination and leadership of our youth partnerships. In order to achieve this you will have an excellent understanding of the landscape in which charities deliver their services and the statutory and funding frameworks within which we operate.
Benefits of working at High Trees
- 35 days annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays and 3 Christmas days) rising by 1 day each year after 2 years’ service (capped at an additional 8 days)
- Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave after 2 years’ service
- Save money off a new bike with the Cycle to Work scheme
- Up to 7% contribution to the staff pension scheme
- 24/7 Employee Support Line
- Clear pay structure with yearly increments (based on performance)
- Annual Staff away day
- Premium eye-care vouchers through Specsavers and season ticket loans