Waddesdon Manor School Partnership Manager

Waddesdon Manor is a historic house open to the public near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Created by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild from 1874 and set in a Grade 1 listed garden, it is home to the Rothschild Collection and was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957. Today it is managed by a Rothschild charitable trust, The Rothschild Foundation, and welcomes in the region of 350,000 visitors annually.

The Rothschild Foundation has a broad philanthropic remit and gives grants and supports charitable and educational activities in sectors including arts and heritage, education, the environment, and social inclusion. It is based at the Windmill Hill Archive complex. The Manor and Windmill Hill are set within the privately owned Waddesdon Estate LLP. Its operations include residential lettings, farming, energy, forestry, commercial operations, and capital projects.

The Learning Team are responsible for delivering a wide-ranging programme of educational programmes and activities focused on the resources at Waddesdon, from primary to secondary school pupils.

Thanks to the Rothschild Foundation’s generous investment in Waddesdon School’s Sixth Form building project, this exciting new post will establish and secure a lasting partnership between Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon Estates LLP and Waddesdon School. The successful candidate will assist in the development of an innovative blueprint that will provide experiential learning opportunities across the Manor and Estate for Waddesdon School pupils.  Working collaboratively with the school and Manor, the post-holder will manage the programme and to act as the central liaison between the partners.

Outline of Role

This is a hands-on role, directly engaging with young people and forming part of the team delivering the existing schools and education provision at Waddesdon Manor.

An experiential super-curricular programme of activities will enable students to:

• Deepen knowledge through access to cultural and natural heritage.
• Tackle issues that matter to them, particularly environmental challenges, and mental health.
• Develop teamwork and leadership skills through creative, physical and outdoor experiences.
• Raise aspirations for their futures through encounters with working adults.

A scheme of activities will be led by the School to ensure the active involvement of Sixth Form students, focusing on this age range but also benefiting or touching on students of all ages. There is potential for this programme to be offered to other secondary schools in time.

You must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as well as exceptional organisation and project management capabilities. A demonstrable interest in the core themes of cultural education and sustainability is essential too.

Responsibilities

A person with experience of careers education and classroom teaching, as well as project management, with an interest in empowering student voice through active learning. Their duties would include:

• Safeguarding and risk assessments.
• Working partners, and students, to design the programme.
• Teaching and supervising in partnership with Waddesdon staff, and Waddesdon School teachers.
• Enabling communication across the partners, ensuring that all stakeholders are kept up to date and are brought together for regular meetings.
• Liaising with staff for time-tabling & staff cover, for assemblies, visits, social campaign events and expeditions.
• Coordinating work placements and developing awards.
• Contributing to evaluation.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Demonstrated strong project and event management skills, with the ability to effectively manage multiple work-strands simultaneously in an organised manner.
• Experience of working with a range of young people from a variety of backgrounds, ideally in an environmental or cultural setting, or within schools.
• Strong written and verbal communication with confident teaching, interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Capable of building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders through proactive engagement, and relating with individuals from various backgrounds and with different needs.
• Experience in delivering engagement projects with positive outcomes for young people is essential, particularly collaborative work across several partners.
• The ability to embed monitoring and evaluation in our work.
• A good understanding of safeguarding best practice.

Desirable:

• An awareness of the challenges facing young people – across a wide range of backgrounds.
• An interest in viewing the land as an enriching form of social history and a sustainable model for the future.
• A working knowledge of digital engagement opportunities.
• A working knowledge of the current suite of national qualifications (including T-Levels).
• Experience of working with volunteers to deliver learning and engagement activities.
• Excellent IT skills, including MS Office and social media platforms.

Personal Qualities:

• An unshakeable belief that every young person deserves access to high quality education, whatever their background or academic ability.
• Highly articulate with excellent interpersonal and verbal/written communication skills.
• A motivated self-starter with a proven track record of taking initiative and working independently, as well as managing a varied and demanding workload as part of a team.
• Positive personality with high levels of initiative, enthusiasm and drive.

Terms & Conditions

Contract type:    

Permanent, full time (37.5 hours per week) Monday to Friday. To include some weekends, evening and bank holidays in order to deliver the programme, for which TOIL will be granted.

Subject to the completion of an Enhanced DBS Check.