Summary

Join Wonderseekers at an exciting time as we grow our Community Engagement programme and inspire children aged 3-12 to connect with the world around them. Working as part of our friendly and supportive ECO Team, you’ll help design and deliver engaging, accessible science-based activities for schools and communities, with a focus on ecology and environmental science (full training provided). You’ll work closely with schools, partners and communities, delivering workshops, outreach sessions and creative engagements across multiple projects, often independently and in varied settings. This is a varied, hands-on role for an enthusiastic, adaptable and confident communicator who is passionate about community work, accessibility and making a meaningful difference to young people’s lives, while contributing to a cornerstone of Wonderseekers’ long term strategy.

 

Job Details

Working Hours: 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE).

Work Pattern: This role will be 3 days a week (actual days subject to discussion) although some flexible working will be required. This will mostly be on weekdays with some early morning or evening working. Each normal working day will be 7.5 hours with a 30 minute unpaid rest break, although longer days may be required depending on delivery, TOIL will be used to compensate.

Location: Based at The Point, Eastleigh but working in local communities. Occasional working at Winchester Science Centre.

Salary: £26,000 per annum (pro-rata). Actual salary based on 0.6 FTE: £15,600 per annum.

Contract: 12 months fixed term contract to support maternity cover (with potential to extend depending on funding)

Start date: ASAP

Line Manager: Head of Equity, Community Engagement and Outreach

Holiday: 25 days per annum plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time hours). Option to buy/sell some leave and gain additional days for continuous service after four years. The post-holder will not usually be expected to work bank holidays however when duties require, time off in lieu will be available.

Benefits: Cash health scheme, life assurance, buy/sell annual leave, long service holiday bonus, café and shop discount, electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme, free tickets to WSC and partner attractions, family friendly leave, wellbeing policy, mental health first aiders, cycle to work scheme, financial loans, flexible IT, casual dress, staff events, enhanced pension contribution, inflationary pay rise subject to charity performance and more.

Closing Date: We are looking to appoint as soon as possible so the position will be closed once a suitable candidate has been found. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you’d like to arrange an informal chat or have any questions about the role before applying by emailing hr@wonderseekers.charity – we’d love to hear from you!

About our Charity

Wonderseekers (the Charity behind Winchester Science Centre) strives to engage all children with science so they can live happier, healthier and more sustainable lives and contribute to improving life on Earth. The Charity runs Winchester Science Centre - a vibrant, hands-on experience for young children. Promising an exciting day out for families, with curriculum-linked trips for schools and an evening events programme, the Science Centre welcomes over 170,000 visitors every year. The Charity also delivers a free and impactful community programme for our priority audiences who may not have the opportunity to come to the Science Centre reaching over 10,000 people every year. Through our magnificent planetarium and live science experiences, as well as our out in communities work, science is brought to life in imaginative, fun and accessible ways that means everyone is included.

The Role

Wonderseekers is dedicated to building the community engagement element of our charity. We are seeking a new team member with a background/interest in community working to help us engage children aged 3-12 with the world around them. Our offer will have an emphasis on outdoor learning, ecology, sustainability and environmental sciences but don’t panic if that is not yet your background, we can help with that! We are seeking an individual with passion and enthusiasm in community working to help drive this new initiative forward, drawing on their skills and prior experience of working with schools and groups in the community. The role requires the post holder to work with key partners, stakeholders and audiences (including schools and communities). The role has many diverse elements for which full training and support will be given.

This is an exciting time to join us in this unique and important project where you will be at the forefront of our team. You will work alongside our dedicated, friendly and supportive staff to deliver an important element of our new long-term strategy, and make a powerful positive difference to the lives of young people. Working in our ECO Team the post-holder will work to develop, and deliver, our Community Engagement programme and charitable schools outreach. The post-holder will be line managed by the ECO Head of Department, whilst working with colleagues from other departments.

You will be required to work on a diverse range of activities. You will be delivering across several very different offers and there will be elements of the role where you are working on your own whilst preparing or delivering activities in schools or communities. You will be working on multiple externally funded projects being delivered to/with different partners/audiences.

No two days of our Community Engagement offer are the same due to the exciting nature of working with schools, communities and young people. To overcome obstacles and changing requirements it is therefore essential for our Community Engagement Inspirer to be a skilled communicator, have excellent workshop delivery skills, be resilient, adaptable and enjoy using their creativity.

The Community Engagement offer is a cornerstone of the Charity’s public engagement. We strive for our offer to be fully accessible, and the successful applicant must be an active advocate for accessibility and always looking to develop engagements with accessibility built in. The Community Engagement Inspirer will be working with the wider team to maintain the accessibility of our external and internal offer as required.

Key responsibilities

  • Build, test, and deliver activities that will encourage children to become agents of change for our planet.
  • Support off-site and occasional on-site (at Winchester Science Centre) activities working with diverse audiences which may entail working alone, with the wider team or with community partners.
  • Always be curious! Maintain and develop your knowledge including community working practice, pedagogical techniques and the school national curriculum.
  • Support volunteers and delivery staff who support our charity. These could be arts professionals, other inspirers or researchers/professionals showcasing their research as required.
  • Support the maintenance of strong trusted relationships with key partners, stakeholders and audiences (including schools and communities). This requires good communication skills, good empathy and excellent organisational skills.
  • Provide excellent communication, cross departmentally, to support our culture of close teamwork.
  • Help gather effective evaluation as required by the charity and our programme funders.
  • Deliver inspirational activities through a range of public engagement methods, such as workshops, demonstrations, and in-class activities.
  • Ensure your compliance with paperwork for relevant activities including risk assessments, COSHH and safeguarding requirements.
  • Significant travel will be required to all of our communities so the ability to drive is essential, this is usually in a small work van.
  • There will be elements of lone working so the ability to problem solve, use your initiative and work flexibly is crucial.
  • Deliver, or support the delivery of, shows and films in our Mobile Planetarium (do not worry you will have full training!).
  • Undertake other tasks as could reasonably arise within the remit of Inspirer to include all levels of work within this team including work within the science centre as required. The above should not be considered an exhaustive list.

The post-holder will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check.

Person Specification

Essential

  • Ability to deliver on outreach activities
  • Ability to develop and deliver differentiated and accessible activities and resources for a range of priority audiences.
  • Comfortable working with a range of stakeholders from teachers and community leaders to parents and ecologists.
  • Must be an advocate for accessibility
  • Good organisational skills
  • Excellent communicator
  • Need to have a flexible outlook with regard day start/end times as well as emerging challenges
  • A full, valid driving licence is essential to allow driving of our small work van.

Desirable

  • Experience of delivering in communities
  • Good science knowledge would be a bonus

Ready to Apply?

Click here to visit our recruitment webpage. When you’re ready, please submit your application through our recruitment portal here for this vacancy.

You’ll be asked to share your contact details and answer a few short questions so we can get to know you better. Keep your responses clear and concise - this is your chance to really shine! After that, you’ll upload your cover letter and CV.

We’re always happy to chat about the role before you apply - just reach out using the details below.

If you need any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the application or interview process, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We want to make sure the process works for you.

Contact Us:
Laura Ollis, Director of People and Culture
Email: hr@wonderseekers.charity

Telephone: 07483 371391

(No recruitment agencies, thank you.)