Chaplain in Rochester

POST: Managing Chaplain

START DATE: As Soon As Possible

CLOSING DATE: Friday 23rd October 2026

INTERVIEW DATE: Friday 13th November 2026

RESPONSIBLE TO: Principal and Managing Director

RESPONSIBLE FOR: Oasis Restore Volunteer Chaplaincy team

SALARY: L1 £51,773 to L5 £57,137 plus Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS).

LOCATION: Oasis Restore Secure School in Rochester, Medway, Kent.

WORKING PATTERN: Full time 39 hours per week. This role will require regular weekend working, as well as other unsociable hours.

DISCLOSURE LEVEL: Enhanced

(We reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for applications and interviews where interest and applications received are of high quality or quantity. Therefore, we encourage early applications)

Do you believe that relationships are central to transformation?

Are you passionate about helping young people discover hope, purpose and belonging?

Do you want to play a key leadership role within the UK's first Secure School?

We are seeking an exceptional Managing Chaplain to join the Senior Leadership Team at Oasis Restore Secure School and lead the development of an ambitious, innovative and inclusive chaplaincy service.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the spiritual, pastoral and faith life of a groundbreaking organisation that is transforming outcomes for children in the justice system. As Managing Chaplain, you will provide strategic leadership for chaplaincy, faith, belief and spiritual life across the school, ensuring that every child, family member, staff member and volunteer has access to high-quality pastoral and spiritual support.

You will lead a diverse, multi-faith chaplaincy team, developing partnerships with faith communities, volunteers and external organisations to create opportunities for belonging, personal growth and successful resettlement. You will champion the Oasis ethos and values whilst ensuring that provision is inclusive, welcoming and respectful of people of all faiths, beliefs and worldviews.

Working as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will contribute to safeguarding, wellbeing, restorative practice, inclusion and organisational development. You will play a vital role in helping children develop hope, resilience, identity, purpose and positive aspirations for the future.

This role would suit an experienced chaplain, minister, faith leader or pastoral leader with significant leadership experience and a passion for supporting vulnerable children and young people.

About Oasis Restore

Oasis Restore is the UK's first Secure School and a groundbreaking Ministry of Justice and Youth Custody Service initiative.

Our mission is to transform the life chances of children aged 12 to 18 within the criminal justice system through psychologically informed, integrated practice centred on trusted, safe relationships. We are creating a learning community built on hope, stability and opportunity, where children can thrive and build brighter futures.

As part of Oasis, we are inspired by our inclusive Christ-centered ethos and values whilst welcoming and respecting people of all faiths, beliefs and none.

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Leading and developing the chaplaincy, faith and belief strategy across Oasis Restore.
• Managing chaplaincy staff, volunteers, faith representatives and community partners.
• Providing spiritual leadership whilst leading an inclusive multi-faith service.
• Supporting children experiencing trauma, loss, bereavement, crisis or family separation.
• Developing partnerships with faith communities, charities and external organisations.
• Contributing to safeguarding, wellbeing and multidisciplinary planning.
• Supporting SMSC, personal development, character education and restorative practice.
• Monitoring and evaluating chaplaincy provision and reporting on impact.
• Representing Oasis Restore within local, regional and national networks.

What We're Looking For

Essential

• An experienced practitioner able to actively support and promote the ethos, values and mission of Oasis.
• Significant leadership experience within chaplaincy, ministry, education, youth work, health, community work or a related field.
• Experience of leading teams, volunteers and partnerships.
• Experience working with vulnerable children, young people and families.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding and child-centred practice.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building and leadership skills.
• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant discipline.
• Commitment to inclusion and the dignity, value and potential of every child.

Desirable

• Experience within secure, residential, education, youth justice or care settings.
• Knowledge of Children's Homes Regulations, Quality Standards and Ofsted frameworks.
• Experience of multi-faith chaplaincy leadership.
• Ordination, commissioning, accreditation or recognised leadership status within an established faith denomination, community, network or tradition
• Experience as a member of a senior leadership team.

Our offer to you

As a newly established subsidiary of the Oasis Charitable Trust, you will enjoy the benefit of being part of a national organisation that aims to support all staff to reach their full potential and a once in a lifetime opportunity to create, develop and grow a new collaborative and innovative values-based organisation. As well as this you will also benefit from the following opportunities:

• A mixture of one to one and group reflective practice, coaching & regular line management/supervision sessions
• Experience an Appraisal policy that decouples pay and performance.
• An elected staff forum to listen to, and act on staff feedback.
• Access to the Local Government Pensions Scheme (a competitive, defined benefit pension scheme)
• Access to a funded cash plan health scheme
• Access to an EAP service
• 33 days annual leave including bank holidays, rising to 35 days after two years.
• Subject to meeting basic eligibility criteria, be entitled to up to 8 weeks full-pay and 18 weeks half-pay paid maternity/adoption/shared parental leave (based broadly on the NHS Employers scheme).
• Subject to meeting basic eligibility criteria be entitled to up to 3 weeks fully paid paternity leave.
• Paid time off to attend antenatal appointments (those staff who are either pregnant or whose partner is pregnant)
• Have a structured and bespoke induction training plan
• A training offer bespoke to our context leading to a level 4 qualification in the therapeutic care of adolescents (front line residential roles).
• Comprehensive de-escalation and restraint training (front line roles only)
• Supportive sick leave pay (based broadly on the length of service framework in the national ‘Green Book' framework)
• Up to 5 days discretionary paid compassionate/emergency/general leave plus further discretionary unpaid leave
• Up to 4 weeks paid parental bereavement leave plus up to 5 days paid discretionary bereavement leave for the death of other specified close relatives.
• Blue Light Card (subject to meeting their eligibility criteria)
• Expenses and travel costs incurred as part of the working day (as appropriate, not including travel to work)
• Access to free car parking, season Ticket Loans, Specsavers eye care vouchers and a cycle to work scheme (subject to meeting their eligibility criteria).

Do you Dare to care? What are you waiting for? Apply today!

Make sure you download and complete our ‘Application Form' including the voluntary ‘Equal opportunities form*' and submit both documents to today.

If you would like some more information or to have an informal conversation with someone, please contact us at .

Safeguarding and Pre-Employment Checks

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect all staff to share this commitment. All successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks along with other relevant employment checks including references and right to work checks. It is an offence to apply for a role if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.

This post is also covered by Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent and spoken English is an essential requirement for this role.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at Oasis Restore

We recognise that our team is strengthened by the knowledge, experience and insights people from a wide range of backgrounds can bring. These beliefs and values are underpinned by decades of work and experience that Oasis has had in a wide range of sectors including education, housing and youth-work supported further by a wide range of independent research and studies elsewhere which evidence that creating teams with diverse experience and perspectives, and encouraging healthy debate, reduces the risk of ‘blind spots' that often form barriers to success.

Oasis Restore aim is to attract and retain the very best diverse talent and role models to help create an innovative, caring and extraordinary working environment for our staff, that enables us to deliver exceptional, caring and psychologically informed learning experience for our students.

We would therefore like to encourage applications from people with varied skillsets, life experiences, and from different backgrounds and sectors to help shape Oasis Restore. If you can demonstrate some of the criteria and believe you have what it takes, then we'd love to hear from you.

Given the nature of our work we also welcome applications from candidates with the following lived experience:

• Experience of working successfully with vulnerable children who sometimes have multiple and complex needs.

• Personal experience of the criminal justice system, or lived experience of the issues facing this client group (i.e. involved in gangs or knife crime).

• Knowledge of the issues facing this client group, such as gangs, knife crime, social exclusion and isolation, child criminal exploitation, adverse childhood experiences and trauma.

• Ability to actively listen and motivate young people.

• Personal experience of the Care system

• Ability to be a positive role model, demonstrating the virtues of a crime-free life to young people.

We're also very happy to answer any questions you may have so please don't hesitate to get in touch at . *The Equal Opportunities Form will not be shared with anyone involved in processing your application.

Please complete this as part of the application process, though it is voluntary.

Please note that if you have a disability and you require this form or submitting the information with regard to this form in another format, such as in larger print, please contact the People Services team

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