The Children’s Society in Rochdale works in partnership to develop high quality child centred services to children, young people their carers and families in schools and communities throughout Rochdale.

We are looking for a Positive Activity Worker to deliver multi sports session one Friday evening per week after school evening to provide an opportunity to engage in physical activity and a healthy lifestyle, as well as to raise attainment and aspiration of refugee young people.

The successful applicant will be working with asylum seeker and refugee children age 8 - 12 year old across the Rochdale Borough, including Kirkholt, Turfhill and Newbold.

You will need relevant experience of direct work with children and young people and have a relevant youth or community, social work or equivalent qualification.

Hours of work will be 3 hour per week and the post is funded until March 2011.

For an informal discussion contact Circle Steele, Programme Manager 01706 345600. 

Positive Activities Project Worker

Job Purpose

• To co-ordinate the Sports and Physical Positive Activities Project
• To co-ordinate group-work and leisure activities
• To contribute to the project aims to reduce the risk of young people becoming involved in anti-social behaviour or crime

Reporting To

Programme Manager

Location

Rochdale

Reward Band

Project Staff I £15,086 - £19,526 pro rata (full time equivalent)

£1,223.19 - £1,583.19 p.a. (£7.84 - £10.15 per hour). 3 hours per week.  Every Friday 5-8

Key Activities

• To develop and support the Sport and Physical Positive Activity Project to deliver a planned programme of sport sessions, issue based group-work and leisure activities.
• To work with project staff to ensure the programme is relevant and responsive to need and risk factors, and giving specific consideration to the measurement of outcomes
• To deliver face to face support for young people in the project in an open, accessible and non-judgemental way that enables them to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to respond to issues affecting them
• To establish and manage files for group and leisure activities.
• To ensure that the project has written parental consent for young people’s participation in activities
• To work in partnership with key voluntary and statutory agencies including schools, police, YOT, Education Welfare and Connexions to co-ordinate provision and monitor progress of young people on the project
• To actively develop and enable children and young people’s participation in the project
• To gather information on young people attending the project and ensure that this information is recorded on the project database
• To demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice in the development and delivery of services

Attainments

In order to be considered for this post you will have to demonstrate that you already have:

Experience

• A proven ability to engage positively with young people, including demonstrable skills in managing challenging behaviour
• Experience of youth or community work in an informal setting/school/youth and community context
• Experience of working with groups of children who face discrimination

Qualifications

• A relevant youth or community, social work or equivalent qualification and/or experience of work with young people in the community
• GCSE grade C or above in English, or equivalent skills in written and oral communication

Work based knowledge

• A working knowledge of Health and Safety and Safeguarding issues and procedures
• A working knowledge of the National Youth Agency occupational standards
• An understanding of the principles of youth work participation approach

Skills

• An ability to design and plan activities which cater for the needs of young people from a Refugee and Asylum Seeker and Migrant backgrounds and abilities in the 8-12 year age group
• An interest in playing and/or organising sports and physical activity based activities catering for the needs of young people as outlined above
• The ability to work on your own initiative to an agreed action plan, organising work routines effectively with minimum supervision
• Competence in using standard office software
• Demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice in the development and delivery of services
• Actively develop and enable children and young people’s participation

Core Competencies

In order to be successful in this role you will be able to demonstrate that you have the ability to meet the following core competencies:

Communicating with others

• Communicate effectively with others in own area on day-to-day

Providing service to others

• Provide services to others, internal and external
• Treats others with respect and dignity
• Complies with safeguarding requirements
• Works in partnership with children and young

Innovation

• Improve work methods to achieve higher levels of efficiency
• Learns from experience

Building and maintaining partnerships

• Maintain friendly, helpful and supportive relationships with immediate colleagues
• Participates fully in team

Agreeing and meeting targets

• Focus on what needs to be done
• Meet service and quality standards
• Act in line with specific directions

Managing Yourself

• Take steps to improve performance
• Takes initiative and is aware of own learning needs

Leading Others

• Participates fully as a member of a team.

Managing Resources

• Supports the efficient use and takes responsibility for sustaining of resources
• Shares relevant information with others

Special job circumstances

This post has the following special circumstances:

• Travel within the area served by the project and occasional travel to other areas
• After school, evening and weekend work
• This post will be subject to an enhanced police check

(Please note: if you have difficulty meeting these conditions because of a disability or family circumstances, the appointing manager will discuss this with you in order to consider reasonable adjustments to the job or working conditions)

Relevant Personal Characteristics

So that you can succeed in this role, the Society will require:

• An understanding and acceptance of the principles and values of The Children's Society
• A commitment to diversity and equality in working relationships and practice
• A commitment to participation of children and young people in the development of services
• The ability to cope with changing priorities and the flexibility and adaptability to respond accordingly
• Effective team working skills and abilities