Activity Leader

We are looking for youth work practitioners, tutors or similar with experience of leading activities for children and young people.

Activities will take place in the YMCA building in Wood Street, offering a variety of sessions for a range of interests and abilities. We have a range of small to medium rooms and halls suitable for art and craft, creative writing, music, dance, exercise and fitness (we don’t currently have a space suitable for ball games or similar).

We are developing psychologically informed approaches across all of our work, and we are aiming to focus our activities on the children and young people who need us most, including those who have experienced or witnessed difficult situations and those who would not usually access out-of-school activities. We know that this has an impact on how families access and participate, and that sessions need to be suitable for those who are able to attend regularly as well as those who need to come when they can.

We are keen to pilot new activities as well as running funded sessions based on our prior learning and evidence. It is likely that our Activity Leaders will come with specialisms and interests, but will be willing and able to take on new activities too.

You will be able to adapt, learn quickly and share your enjoyment with young people, and will understand the significance of monitoring and evaluation when developing and sustaining new work.

Hours of Work
Delivery time of 5pm to 9pm on term time Mondays and Tuesdays.
Planning / admin session of three hours per week - your choice of either Monday or Tuesday from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.
Holidays to be taken during school holidays (we use Doncaster MBC’s standard term times).

Job Purpose
To provide a range of activities to children and young people.

Main Responsibilities
- To plan and deliver creative, wellbeing and social activities to children and young people aged 5-25, in keeping with assigned outlines for pilots or funded projects.
- To ensure effective behaviour management and address issues as necessary in a psychologically-informed context.
- To ensure that all activity is logged and monitored as required, including maintaining financial and efficiency records.
- To feed into consultation around new provision, including providing data and anecdotal evidence and other input for cases for support.
- To organise and/or attend events to publicise YMCA Doncaster’s offer to young people and supporters as required.
- To ensure that participants are aware of the range of provision on offer from YMCA Doncaster.
- To take responsibility for the management of equipment and resources.
- To supervise placements and volunteers as required.
- To ensure that safeguarding and other matters are dealt with according to YMCA Doncaster’s procedures.
- To approach the role with professionalism, and to maintain appropriate boundaries with staff, clients and others.
- Additional or other duties as necessary within your capabilities and status to meet the needs of YMCA Doncaster.

Person Specification
- Experience of leading children and young people, including those with vulnerabilities, in creative, wellbeing or social activities.
- Experience of engaging and building a strong rapport with a range of children and young people.
- A robust understanding of appropriate boundaries, confidentiality and safeguarding practice when working with young people.
- Experience of effective behaviour management.
- An ability to attend reliably and on time in order to maintain trusted provision.
- Strong IT skills and confidence when using new technology.
- Confidence in maintaining basic financial records and data monitoring.
- Written communication skills at a level appropriate for creating reports and case studies as required.
- Administration and organisational skills sufficient to manage a varied workload and meet targets without close supervision.
- A flexible approach to delivering funded and pilot programmes.
- Experience of working within organisational procedures.
- An ability to represent the Association positively, professionally and with credibility.