Catholic Lay-chaplain

Full-time or part-time, non-residential, temporary position, starting June or September 2023.

**A committed and practising Catholic with a vocation for fostering young people’s exploration of their faith, and for providing pastoral support for all people - regardless of their beliefs, is sought to support the spiritual leadership of this unique school community.**

**Our employees are inspiring and creative, transforming the futures of intelligent pupils who experience challenges in their learning due to literacy and language-related difficulties, by empowering them.**

**The School**:
Nationally celebrated, More House School provides an exceptional, mainstream education for intelligent boys with Specific Learning Difficulties and weakness in their developmental language skills. Providing a transformative education repeatedly recognised as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted over more than a decade, we offer a specialised learning environment for 490 day and boarding boys from Year 4 to Year 13. Our pupils are taught to recognise their strengths and develop their self-belief so that they achieve independence and extraordinary results at GCSE, BTEC and A Level, above the national averages. A majority progress to university. Class-sizes are small, with a maximum of 15 pupils.

**About this post**:
Owing to maternity leave, an inspiring and dedicated Catholic chaplain is sought to provide spiritual leadership, advising and supporting the Headmaster in fostering a caring and thoroughly inclusive shared community bearing witness to God’s love and mercy. Pupils and employees come from a wide social background, with a majority of pupils’ placements being funded by more than thirty different local authorities. The school’s Catholic population, as a percentage, is broadly similar to that of the national population; the school welcomes boys and staff-members of any faith, and those with no faith. The curriculum provides an insight into many different major religions, and pupils learn to understand and to respect those of different cultures and beliefs.

A practising Catholic, our chaplain will coordinate the chaplaincy provision that is rooted in the Catholic foundation of the School, but supports the diversity of the School’s population. With the large and beautiful School chapel as a base, the chaplain will provide a witness to God’s love and mercy in diverse aspects of School life.

A comprehensive induction programme is offered, and ongoing professional development is supported through INSET days and training opportunities, in which staff-members are expected to continue their professional development and practice, supported by excellent internal and external opportunities.

The above list of duties is not exhaustive, and the post-holder may be required to perform such other duties as may be, from time to time, deemed necessary by the Headmaster. This is a non-residential post.

The above list of duties is not exhaustive, and the post-holder may be required to perform such other duties as may be deemed necessary by the Bursar or Headmaster from time to time.

**Relationships**:

- The post-holder is responsible to the Headmaster in all matters, and reports to the Deputy Head (Pastoral) in respect of pastoral matters.
- The successful applicant must also interact effectively on a professional level with colleagues in order to support them pastorally and spiritually, and seek to establish and maintain supportive and productive relationships with all.
- The Chaplain fosters links with local parishes, including St Joan’s, Farnham, and with the Diocese, engaging with the Diocesan chaplaincy support network.

**Person specification**:
**Qualifications**:
Essential:

- Be a baptised and practising lay-member of the Roman Catholic church committed to the spiritual and personal development of children and young people, and able to provide a reference from your parish priest.

Desirable:

- A degree in theology or religious studies, or other experience or evidence of further or higher-education study that suits you to the chaplaincy role in the Roman Catholic Church.

**Skills and Experience**:
Essential:

- Experience of committed engagement in youth work as part of the Church or other organisation.
- A good sense of the Church’s liturgy, able to recruit and enthuse pupils to become involved in supporting and leading School worship.
- Confident in leading large and small, formal and informal, groups of pupils and adults.
- An articulate speaker with presence and the ability to present, credibly and enthusiastically, the challenges of the Gospel.
- Good administrative and organisational skills, including scheduling events, making bookings, arranging itineraries and timetables, obtaining and conserving resources, delegating responsibilities and providing clear briefings and instructions. You will be able to demonstrate a high standard of written and spoken English, and competent basic I.T. skills.

Desirable:

- Ex