Outdoor Education Freelance Instructor in Derby

Arnfield Independent School has several exciting roles available for the right freelance outdoor education instructors to join our successful, professional and growing team. We operate year-round from our base in the High Peak, helping young people to engage with outdoor adventures through a mixture of day work and longer residential trips. If you can encourage, motivate, and excite vulnerable and sometimes challenging young people through outdoor education, then we want to meet you.

If you are appropriately qualified and suitably experienced, able to work confidently as part of a team and lead one-to-one sessions, we can offer you the chance to make a genuine difference to young people's lives.

Established in 1997 and based in the High Peak, we are an Independent School based in Glossop (Ofsted rated Good with elements of Outstanding) that supports the education of looked-after children, aged 11-17, as part of a well-established Care Group. The school uses a variety of teaching strategies including one-to-one classroom teaching, ASDAN and outdoor education to support students to re-engage with education, build confidence in learning and achieve meaningful educational outcomes, enabling them to take greater control of their lives as they transition into further education, training or work.

Our children and young people live in one of our three outstanding residential care homes where our support workers and team of psychologists help them deal with a wide range of complex issues resulting from social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in their formative years. Whether they are with us for short-term respite care, intensive crisis intervention work or longer-term placements as they transition towards semi-independence, we want to help them learn, have fun, grow and achieve so that they have every opportunity to succeed in later life.

Our curriculum is innovative and varied because the children we educate have complex individual needs. We pride ourselves on being nurturing and supportive, and on using tailored strategies to engage our young people so that they can overcome their disadvantages. We value diversity, resilience, passion and ambition and demand our staff are committed to providing the highest level of educational support for children experiencing crises. So you'll need to share this passion for improving the lives of young people; providing them with the best possible education while they're with us and the greatest opportunities to thrive when they leave.

Outdoor Education Freelance Instructor's Key Objectives:

• To deliver high-quality, expert outdoor education as part of a team of employed and freelance outdoor education specialists.
• To participate in a mixture of day work and 5-day residential trips.
• To work closely with Outdoor Education Manager to further improve the breadth of outdoor education on offer to our young people making it an integral part of their care and education.
• To promote the safeguarding and welfare of all young people, leading by example with outstanding safeguarding practice.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary (£170/day), plus sleep in allowances (£120/night) for residential stays.
• Induction training and ongoing CPD (with training paid for at £120/day).
• Staff loyalty and referral bonuses.
• Wide-ranging employee assistance programme for help with professional and personal concerns.

Outdoor education forms a core part of the care, behavioural support and practical skills development Arnfield Care is renowned for, contributing crucial lessons about risks, communication, discipline and teamwork as part of our educational provision for children and young people, as well as promoting physical and emotional well-being. We value commitment and experience in our staff and offer employment packages that reflect this.

Essential Skills:

• Ideally, you will have a minimum of two years experience instructing or teaching in a broad range of outdoor education disciplines including those delivered through residential experiences.
• You’ll also be a strong communicator and a good team player, with a proven commitment to your own personal development.
• You will have an appropriate first-aid qualification and a full manual vehicle driving license (mandatory requirement).
• And you’ll be qualified in a range of outdoor disciplines including at least two of the following: Indoor/outdoor climbing, Hill and Moorland leading, Mountain biking, Paddlesports, Caving.
• Experience working with and an ability to relate to vulnerable children and young people would be a definite advantage as would demonstrable experience of undertaking risk assessments, a thorough knowledge of safeguarding and outdoor education pedagogy, and some experience of therapeutic environments and practice.
• You won’t be daunted by challenging, dynamic environments and you’ll embrace the need to work flexibly according to the needs of our young people so will be comfortable with a mixture of day work and longer residential trips that will involve several nights at a time away from home.

Important:

As an inclusive employer, Arnfield Care Ltd stands against discrimination in any form. We have created working environments in which all individuals can make the best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment. We endeavour to make all necessary reasonable adjustments for individual employees and base all decisions relating to an individual's employment purely on merit. And we challenge any behaviour that threatens the safeguarding of our young people and colleagues. All the young people we look after are equally entitled to have their needs met in a safe, fair, respectful and balanced way. All staff are responsible for safeguarding and promoting equal opportunities and for challenging any behaviour or practice that discriminates against any young person or colleague based on any perceived difference. Job offers and continued employment are conditional upon stringent pre-employment checks and thorough referencing to assess the suitability of applicants, as well as the maintenance of Enhanced DBS clearance.

We aim to interview appropriate candidates as soon as possible and reserve the right to close the role early if we find the right candidates, so don’t delay.