Youth Centre Manager - Youth Hub -Sandown Town Hall

Job Posted: 10 April 2025

• Contract Term: Fixed Term
• Location: Sandown, Isle of Wight
• Contract Type: Full time
• Salary: £26,500
• Industries: Charity / Voluntary Education Health & Social Care

Youth Centre Manager 

36 hours per week @£26,500 (2-year contract)

To lead a highly motivated staff team that engages, stimulates and supports young people, through a centre-based facility and outreach approach. To ensure that delivery within their team is underpinned by robust safeguarding, trauma informed approach and effective operational policies and procedures and meets the strategic priorities of the organisation and emerging needs.  

This is an operational role and approximately 50% of the time is expected to be spent delivering group activities to young people with the remaining time, spent undertaking managerial and planning tasks.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

There is an expectation that core delivery working hours will include evenings, school holidays and the occasional weekends.

The post holder will act as the Centre’s Designated Safeguarding Lead for activities within the centre and outreach in the locality.

Postholders are expected to undertake other duties and responsibilities relevant to the post.

Main Duties and Responsibilities.

• Co-produce and deliver a programme of group and individual activities that meet the needs of young people accessing the facility. These could include a range of positive activities, including sport, fitness, art, music and cultural activity.
• Co-produce and deliver a range of developmental opportunities including informal and formal education, youth voice and youth participation.
• To ensure safe delivery of operational service, undertaking regular risk assessments for building, session activities and potential conflict assessments for young people, where required.
• Directly deliver activities to young people as well as coordinate delivery by others, including wider team, partners and young people experiencing peer opportunities.
• Develop and implement a communication and promotional strategy including outreach to increase the number of young people accessing the service. 
• Establish systems that give young people a sense of achievement, for example, opportunities to achieve certification and formal accreditation.
• Ensure that young people’s voices are heard regarding design of programming and regular feedback and evaluation to shape the service offer.
• Build excellent external community relationships to enhance the programme offer for young people. This could include bringing external agencies into the centre and also develop opportunities for helping young people travel to other places for life experiences.
• With support of the Youth Development & Intervention Officer plus from the Isle of Wight Council, raise funds to help sustain, grow and enhance the offer for young people.
• Advocate for young people in the local community for opportunities for them to undertake positive community roles. This could include community-based volunteering opportunities and work experience placements.
• Recruit, deploy and supervise community volunteers and formal university placements to enhance the programme offer for young people.
• Develop volunteer support capacity within the provision.
• To line-manage, provide supervision and support to all relevant paid workers and volunteers, and to ensure that supervision and support is available for all staff.
• Ensure young person’s individual wellbeing needs are being met.
• Ensure programme hours are delivered in line with contracting and budgetary arrangements and provide data for reporting purposes.
• Ensure young people are kept safe and safeguarded, being vigilant to the specific targeted risks they are exposed to and acting in accordance with CAIW’s Safeguarding, Health & Safety and Equality & Diversity policies and procedures.
• Undertake training and professional development.
• Devise, lead, support and manage specific programmes of work/operational delivery that meets strategic aims and objectives of CAIW, ensuring provision meets the needs of young people and their requested activities.

Person Specification & Key Competencies

Qualifications and Experience:

• Experience of direct delivery of youth provision or young people services
• Formal qualification in Youth Work or relevant sector qualificatio
• A commitment to relating positively to young people
• Experience of co-production with young people for design and delivery of services
• Experience of service planning, achieving targets, monitoring and analysing information, and report writing
• An understanding of the concepts of trauma informed working.
• Ability to react positively and effectively when faced with vulnerability and high-risk behaviours from young people.
• Good level of IT proficiency
• An understanding of safeguarding principles and procedures.
• An understanding of the challenges that young people face and trending risk themes.
• An understanding of equality and diversity matters.

Personal Attributes

• A genuine passion for working with young people.
• A friendly personality, able to communicate and positively engage with a wide range of people including young people, parent/carers and external agencies and partners.
• The ability to motivate and inspire others.
• An ability to work under pressure and manage challenging situations
• Good organisational skills in order to manage a highly varied programme and workload
• A creative approach to working and a collaborative work ethic.

Please provide a CV and a cover letter, outlining why you are interested in the role.

The deadline is Friday 25^th April.

All applicants to email [email protected] with CV and cover letter.