Two trustees for educational charity

Number Champions supports London primary school children who struggle with numeracy. Independent evaluation shows our highly positive impact.

We seek two capable and committed trustees to help drive our strategy and oversee delivery.

One new trustee may become Vice Chair.

What difference will you make?

What difference will you make?
This year, Number Champions will support about 400 children in state schools across London. We will achieve this with about 140 volunteers and four part-time employees.

We have proven that our intervention has highly positive impact for the children we support and have identified that there is demand from schools and availability of volunteers to enable us to grow year by year. Our strategy is to grow steadily the number of children we support and to cover more of London, while maintaining the positive impact of our programme.

By helping to drive our strategic management, you will make a key contribution towards enabling us to reach our targets and to boosting the educational and life chances of hundreds of children a year, a majority from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our vision is that organisations across the country will copy our model, and that eventually all primary school children will have access to volunteer support in maths.

We are a small, agile, and ambitious organisation with capable staff, enthusiastic trustees, and passionate volunteers, and we can act quickly to put new ideas into action. You will therefore have the opportunity to propose new initiatives which make a direct impact on the work and the outputs of the charity.

What's in it for you?
Your efforts will directly create a measurable improvement in the skills and confidence of hundreds of children a year, giving an important boost to their educational and life chances.

You will gain skills and experience as a trustee in a growing and fast-moving charity. You will be able to influence every aspect of the charity and to widen your skills and experience across the full range of activities within strategic management.

The charity is a highly collaborative environment, aiming to excel in all areas – we hope you will enjoy being a part of this.

What are we looking for?

• bring relevant senior experience from any sector, including educational, business, professional, or pro bono roles. You do not need specific experience as a charity trustee.
• have skills and/or a network of contacts which would enhance the capability of the board, either immediately or during our succession process. The role specifications in our attachment give further details on individual skills.
• function effectively as part of a team, thinking creatively and strategically, listening, stating your position clearly and succinctly, and accepting group decisions.
• are open, deliver on commitments and show attention to detail without losing sight of the big picture, and understand their own strengths and weaknesses.
• are enthusiastic about Number Champions' mission to help children achieve their potential.
• are able to devote time to reading papers and attending board meetings and also to progressing issues as needed between meetings - with ten to twelve hours a month being an indicative time commitment required.
• are able to attend in-person board meetings in London.
• ideally having experience in fundraising or volunteer management, but this is certainly not a requirement for the roles.

What will you be doing?

What will you be doing?
Numeracy, like literacy, is a core life skill. However, many children do not learn well in a classroom setting. Number Champions was the first and is still the only UK charity focused on supporting primary school children who struggle with numeracy. By helping children improve their confidence, enjoyment, and skills in maths, we support their wider development and help them achieve their potential.

Our trained volunteers run weekly one-to-one sessions with each child, during the school day but outside the classroom. They use games and other creative activities to engage the child and to enable them to build confidence and skills. Experienced teachers volunteering with us as "Mentors" provide support.

The trustee board meets about seven times a year. It sets strategic direction, reviews all aspects of the charity in rotation, and takes corrective action where it identifies that we are not achieving our planned objectives. All trustees are expected to study the papers for each meeting and to contribute to all discussions. We currently have eight trustees with two reaching the end of their terms, so we will be eight again after the recruitment process.

You would use your experience, skills, and current awareness to identify risks and opportunities to bring to the board's attention, and you would influence the other trustees to follow your ideas through to implementation.

Board meetings alternate between in-person in London and online.

We encourage trustees to meet our volunteers and staff, and to ensure that their experience and voice is taken into account in directing the charity.

What are we looking for?
You will

• bring relevant senior experience from any sector, including education, business, professional, or charity.
• have skills which would enhance the capability of the board. The attached role descriptions list skills, but we are open to other skills you can offer which you can persuade us would be important to the charity.
• function effectively as part of a team, thinking creatively and strategically, listening, stating your position clearly and succinctly, and accepting group decisions.
• be open, deliver on commitments and show attention to detail without losing sight of the big picture, and understand your own strengths and weaknesses.
• be enthusiastic about our mission to help children achieve their potential.
• devote time to reading papers and attending board meetings and to progressing issues as needed between meetings – probably about ten to twelve hours a month.

We serve the diverse population of London children. This diversity is reflected in our volunteers but not in our current board. We welcome applicants from all ethnicities, orientations, and backgrounds, including those with disabilities.

You do not need experience as a trustee.