Student Community Officer in Grove

Are you passionate about supporting young people and creating a positive, inclusive College community? Kingston College is looking for an experienced youth work professional to join our Student Services team as a Student Community Officer. This is a varied, front-line role where you’ll build positive relationships with students, support those who may be considered ‘at risk’ or ‘hard to reach’, and help create an engaging, safe and welcoming environment across the College.

Working closely with Curriculum, Student Services and Security teams, you’ll maintain a visible and approachable presence across the College, engaging with students and signposting them to enrichment activities and appropriate support. You’ll lead and develop a programme of enrichment activities designed to increase student participation and strengthen the College community. You’ll recruit, coordinate and monitor engagement, identify opportunities to improve attendance and encourage students to get involved in activities and clubs.

A key part of the role will be providing early intervention and short-term one-to-one support to students who may be at risk of disengaging from education. You’ll also design and deliver targeted workshops covering areas such as conflict resolution, bullying and respect. You’ll work closely with internal teams and external partners to support safeguarding and student wellbeing, responding appropriately to challenging situations and using de-escalation, restorative and conflict-resolution approaches where necessary.

To be successful in this role, you’ll hold a Level 3 qualification or above in a relevant discipline, such as youth work, youth justice or social care, and have experience of working with young people in a school, College, youth or community setting. You’ll have experience of outreach, detached youth work or similar, with a good understanding of the issues that can affect a young person’s engagement, attendance and behaviour in education. You’ll also be able to lead on developing and adapting an Enrichment programme to meet student need and maintain attendance.

You’ll have a strong understanding of safeguarding and child protection, including contextual safeguarding, and experience of managing challenging behaviour using approaches such as de-escalation, negotiation and conflict resolution. An excellent communicator, you’ll be able to build positive relationships with young people while maintaining professional boundaries, work effectively with colleagues and external agencies, and confidently maintain accurate student records and written reports.

This role will be based at our Creative Industries Centre. Closing date for the return of completed applications is 25th November 2026.

The benefits package includes generous annual leave of 27 days plus up to 8 additional days over Christmas/New Year as well as an additional 5 days Wellbeing leave to enhance employees’ physical and mental health. There is an excellent pension scheme that receives a significant financial contribution from the employer (Teachers Pensions or Local Government Pension Scheme), subsidised sports facilities and professional development and training plus a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. The benefits package will be pro-rated for part time staff.

South Thames Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. As outlined in the Public Sector Equality Duty of the Equality Act 2010, we are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

As part of our due diligence checks on prospective employees, successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory references, an online search and proof of eligibility to work in the UK. The South Thames Colleges Group is made up of Carshalton College, Kingston College, Merton College and South Thames College, which merged on 1 August 2017. South Thames Colleges Group is one of London’s largest providers of post-16 education and training and is an ongoing and significant contributor to its local communities. We aim to put students’ success at the heart of everything we do. We are looking for hard-working and collaborative people who can join our team and help challenge our students to progress and achieve.