Senior Visit Coordinator

Jamie's Farm exists to transform the lives of vulnerable children in challenging urban schools by providing our unique combination of 'farming, family and therapy'. As we have reached the exciting point in our development where demand for visits has outstripped the number of spaces we have available, we are in the midst of expanding onto a new site. We are now seeking a passionate and professional educator with proven ability to build positive relationships with children and staff, in order to ensure the successful transition of our model and our culture onto pastures new.

About Jamie's Farm

Jamie's Farm helps children to flourish at home, in education and in the community through an intensive week-long immersion in rural life. We provide young people with a tailored range of activities designed to offer each an opportunity for achievement, as well as a supportive family environment that encourages them to push themselves out of their comfort zone. Our therapeutic input makes use of individual and group sessions to allow pupils to reflect on their lives on the farm and back home, in order to draw out tangible strategies for improvements to be realised when they return. By working with teachers and committing to follow up visits in school, we aim to make changes catalysed by Jamie's Farm last; internal and external evaluation has proven this so.

The initial spark for the charity came from Jamie Feilden, who was teaching in a Croydon comprehensive school when he began taking inner-city pupils back to his home farm in Wiltshire. Eight years on, we welcome 500 young people each year to our beautiful 14th Century Cotswold farmhouse and purposely converted barn. Now, building on the charity's firm financial foundations, we are expanding the charity, in order that greater numbers of young people can benefit from the transformational experience we aim to offer.

Our growth to the second site is the crucial step in our development. By 2020, we aim to be working with 3000 young people a year, across five sites. This would represent 10% of the 30,500 vulnerable young people who are most in need of our intervention. Consequently, we would be significantly contributing to tackling the grave problem of social and academic exclusion on a national scale.

However, this grand ambition will only be successful if we can prove that our model can work beyond the founding staff team and our local network of supporters in Bath. The second site in Lower Wernddu, Herefordshire, offers a wonderful environment with which to recreate the magic of Jamie's Farm, and we are determined to recruit into this site a staff team we can entrust to carry the Jamie's Farm torch into a new area. They will be responsible for quickly establishing the purposeful, welcoming, nurturing environment that is so conducive to enabling pupils to see themselves in a new light. While the team will be well supported by the Jamie's Farm senior team, we envisage that many functions will quickly be devolved so that six months in, the new site will be functioning effectively as an independent unit.

Position Summary

The Senior Visit Coordinator will work on visit delivery and logistics based at Jamie's Farm, just outside of Hereford. This position provides an exceptional opportunity for an individual with proven leadership, communication and interpersonal skills to serve an active role in our work with vulnerable children.

Major responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

1. Delivery of up to four visits a month, including:

• specific farm responsibilities, depending on individual interests (e.g. gardening; horse-work; woodwork)
• contribution to farm life including daily walks and meal preparation
  planning and delivering farm based, garden and/or cooking activities with children
• participation in, and leading of Jamie's Farm group meetings
  leading evening activity sessions
• being a strong, consistent, holding presence for the group on specified weeks

2. Visit relationship management for up to ten partner schools, including:

• all school communication in preparation for visits 
• building long-term partnerships with schools who work with Jamie's Farm
• liaison with visiting staff on site, including daily check ins
• surveying all staff and children on site and in follow up 
• leading up to three follow up sessions a month in schools, and developing
• long term school-specific follow up programmes alongside teaching staff,
• to ensure that maximum lasting impact is provided for visiting children
• completing school reports to send to visiting schools within a week of the visit

3. Other major responsibilities include:

• participating in meetings with visiting staff and ensuring they get maximum value from the Jamie's Farm experience
• timetabling of visits
• being specified member of staff one weekend a month, responsible for  looking after house lets, security on the farm, stocking the biomass boiler
• when needed, and being on call for livestock emergencies

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree and PGCE or equivalent certification required
• Minimum 4 years professional experience in working with vulnerable or  challenging children
• Experience working in social work, therapeutic community or educational setting 
• Prior experience working in challenging secondary school setting with  pastoral leadership responsibilities preferred

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Ability to exemplify Jamie's Farm core values of respect, trust, commitment, positivity and professionalism
• Exceptional communication, teamwork and organisational skills 
• Ability to develop strong relationships with diverse individuals and organisations, and to influence and motivate others
• Enthusiasm for the chance to be an integral part of the exciting journey onto a second site
• Interest and enthusiasm for living and working in a rural setting
• Interest in the benefits of education beyond the classroom, especially for vulnerable groups
• Ability to contribute to wider vision, strategy and goals of an ambitious, professional and unique charity
• Strong work ethic and ability to share this with children

Benefits: 

• £25,000 a year
• Up to £10,000 worth of further benefits, including:
• Accommodation onsite in beautiful Herefordshire farm setting, including bills and council tax
• All meals during visits
• Use of company mobile phone and laptop computer
• 22 days annual leave plus holiday between Christmas and New Year
• Participation in Jamie's Farm study group sessions
• Welcoming, vibrant team environment

Deadline: Monday 20th October 2014

Apply now:

Please submit one page letter and CV to tobypearson@jamiesfarm.org.uk

Due to the nature of our work with young people, on acceptance of offer all Jamie's Farm employees are subject to an enhanced Criminal Record Bureau check in accordance with our Child Protection Policy.