Youth Centre Co-ordinator

**Temporary/Secondment for up to 12 months to cover maternity leave**

**37 hours per week Monday - Friday with occasional weekends**

The youth service aim to improve the outcomes for young people aged 11-19 years and up to 25 years for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. We do this through information, advice and guidance, and a range of activities provided through our clubs and projects. We support vulnerable young people who are at risk or future risk of further problems such as substance misuse, youth offending, teenage pregnancy, domestic abuse and homelessness.

You will be responsible for managing youth clubs and staff teams to ensure a range of different activities and programmes are offered to young people aged 11-19. Activities can range from regular club nights with guest speakers or workshops, to offsite activities such as residential weekends, trips to local places of interest fun activities like ice-skating. You will be responsible for ensuring a safe and welcoming environment is maintained and enjoy engaging young people to ensure their views are taken into account when planning the club programme. You will also have the opportunity to work with partner agencies and other areas of the service to improve the offer to young people in the area. Evening work and some weekends is an essential part of this post.

**Who is the person?**
- Have excellent communication skills and be able to motivate and engage effectively with young people (60% of your work will involve working with young people).
- Be able to manage and develop staff, volunteers and students and role model professional practice with young people.
- Be able to identify issues and develop a plan of activities to meet young people's needs and government agendas. Be able to deliver and review the plan accordingly.
- Consult young people and be willing to involve them in service planning and delivery.
- Have good interpersonal skills, be motivated and able to work on own initiative and within a team.
- Be able to support the active participation of young people and their families, recognising the barriers to young people’s participation and working to reduce these, whilst ensuring that diversity and equality are instrumental in service provision and delivery.
- Be able to effectively record the participation, progress and achievement of young people and support accreditation of the learning outcomes.
- Positively promote the club, its activities and young people through meetings, publicity, and updating the website.
- Identify partner agencies and work jointly to improve the offer to young people in the local area, and be able to represent the youth clubs
- Be the designated safeguarding lead for the site and be responsible for keeping up to date and accurate records of the individual and regularly review within staff supervision sessions. Have the ability to understand the individual and identify any concerns and how to support and develop a plan to move forward.
- Be able to identify and develop resources for continued service delivery in the community.
- Prepare reports, attend meetings and compile and produce statistics as required. Keep accurate financial records and comply with PCC policies.
- Be able to make sound decisions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of young people, staff, and the wider community.
- Be committed to anti discriminatory practice. Be open minded, but recognise and challenge inappropriateness in a young persons behaviour or language when necessary. Be able to develop and implement plan forward so as to not to exclude permanently.
- Be flexible in your hours of work as you will need availability to work a minimum of two evenings per week and weekends.
- Prepare for, and attend supervision, and appropriate training relevant to the post and team meetings as required.
- Work closely and support other settings across play and youth to enable strong links for the young people of Portsmouth.
- The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post