Personal development and administration assistant – creativity and care - united kingdom, inverness, highland

responsibilities: this individual will work within the creative and care team and support the creative learning manager and personal development facilitator, fostering and developing positive working relationships with care experienced young people. the person in this role will take shared responsibility for being the first point of contact with any participating young people and will support the personal learning plans for individuals on the programme. this role will ensure that all the elements of the programme are tailored to the needs of the individual and will help arrange travel and other support for tutors, partners and above all, young people. they will liaise with social workers, teachers, partner staff and any other relevant professionals involved in corporate parenting. this is a lynch pin role in building relationships with young people and supporting them to have a strong sense of self and to share any worries that may be presenting a barrier towards engagement. they will also take on the external communications including updating website content, social media accounts and newsletters. this role will support any administration tasks and more broadly, support the practical elements of the programme to deliver high quality creative learning experiences.

principal duties

1. to support young people from initial contact with the programme, through activity and beyond, to help them to grow in confidence and find their creative voices.

2. to support the creativity in care team with the smooth delivery of youth projects and activities as well as more general activities including domestic tasks, purchasing daily provisions, and assisting the wider staff team.

3. to ensure that all administration processes relating to the programme are well managed and planned under the supervision of the creative learning manager and personal development facilitator. to ensure internal communications are scheduled and that all relevant information is shared in a timely fashion with lead and wider programme partners. this may include meeting agendas and other planning documents.

4. in alignment with the wishes of the young people engaging in the programme, in particular the advisory board, undertake all relevant external communication planning and delivery including updating web content, sending out newsletters and maintaining social media channels. a key part of this element will be to liaise on an ongoing basis with the advisory board to ensure branding and tone is fit for purpose.

5. meeting with young people to build strong working relationships, liaising with care experienced young people, potentially being their first point of contact and ensuring communication and support throughout.

6. to facilitate all travel plans relating to the programme, including booking travel for tutors and young people.

7. to oversee all relevant invoicing relating to the programme, ensuring smooth communications are always maintained with the wider team at moniack mhor.

8. to arrange pvgs for all tutors and professionals engaging with the programme.

9. ensuring the security, safety, confidentiality and comfort of all participants.

10. attending regular moniack mhor staff meetings and regular one to one meetings with the programme manager and personal development facilitator.

11. liaising regularly with the advisory group of young people.

12. promoting and implementing moniack mhor’s equal opportunities policy amongst staff and participants.

13.supporting smooth delivery of the programme including the following –

o supporting the advisory group to design the individual grants programme.

o ensuring that funding applications received are circulated to the steering committee.

o ensuring that a consistent methodology is used to assess funding applications.

o supporting the outcomes of funding applications by facilitating the creative goals of the applicants.

o supporting the wider programme team with delivery of workshops and taster sessions.

o helping to gather information and permissions prior to each activity.

o helping to maintain appropriate records.

o working at all times with due regard to confidentiality and protection procedures and passing on any areas for concern.

1. to act as a positive role model for young people who are engaging with moniack mhor.

2. to uphold the ethos of the project at all times, considering how this ethos is relayed to all stakeholders.

3. to undertake any duties not listed above on an ad hoc basis that support the smooth delivery of the programme

moniack mhor is a registered charity, financed through a variety of different sources, principally through regular funding from creative scotland. the aims of moniack mhor are – • to develop new literary talent and further the skills of writers, fostering the creation of new literature.

• to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to reach their full potential by developing confidence in writing ability and encouraging creative expression.

• to provide high quality creative writing learning experiences in a supportive, unique and inspirational setting.

• to place environmental sustainability, landscape and cultural preservation at the heart of our work.

• to embed equality as an overarching theme and to remove barriers to the writing process.

• to work in partnership to create and support a dynamic literary culture in the highlands and islands and beyond.

• to raise the identity of literature created in scotland locally, nationally and internationally. creativity and care programme creativity and care is a three-year programme, legacy funded by the life changes trust. it offers creative and other development opportunities for young people in scotland aged 14 – 30. led by moniack mhor writers’ centre, the programme will also involve three key partners: the calman trust, the abriachan forest trust and the articulate trust based on glasgow. between organisations, the project will build a physical and online hub for creative learning in the highlands and nationally, providing a safe, nurturing, and equal space for creative and personal development of young care experienced people. each organisation will focus on its specialism, but moniack mhor will manage the overarching programme, being the conduit for showcasing creative work. being led by an advisory board of young people, we will work with individuals to help them to identify what their needs and aspirations are. moniack mhor will focus on creative development (for instance, creative writing in all forms, film-making, crafts, drama, photography), calman trust will focus on personal development (using informal cookery classes and participation with others in a real working team to enhance young people’s self-belief, understanding of consequences and ability to make and communicate personal choices) and abriachan forest trust will focus on outdoor education (caring for the environment, forest school, outdoor skills). articulate will lead on digital skills development and partner on provision of physical spaces for activity within the central belt. where a young person identifies an aspiration that cannot be directly delivered by one of the key partner organisations, we will support them with seamless engagement from another provider. the project will be underpinned by the following ethos –

● handing over the power to young people so that they can meaningfully create their own stories and futures

● the power of the collective voice, challenging stigma and creation of a safe space for the quieter voices to feel confident to share their views

● young people engaging in high quality creative and personal development opportunities

● the opportunity to celebrate place (potentially reconnecting with the positive elements surrounding place) and wild spaces. the programme will seek to explore rurality, and also urban spaces, exploring exchange opportunities with national partners. the programme will have the following structure –

● one-to-one personal development –project staff working across partner organisations will meet with any young person interested in engaging to support them through their learning journey. this strand will include working with schools and statutory agencies to identify “hard to reach” young people, for example under compulsory measures of supervision at home.

● steering committee/advisory group - this group (approximately 10 young people throughout scotland) will have oversight responsibilities, decision-making powers and will be the key driver of the direction of the programme. we will run an open recruitment process, aiming to recruit a committee of 10 young people who will all be paid appropriately for their time and energy. the group will co-design taster activity alongside moniack mhor writers’ centre and take a lead role in consulting with young people in terms of their collective creative interests. the group will take a role in designing evaluation processes and have responsibility to ensure that partner evaluations of projects and the overarching programme are at an appropriate level and accessible.

● creative and outdoor learning taster sessions – a series of creative workshops and outdoor activities across scotland to show the range of opportunities available and to build confidence. this element will be delivered on a residential basis or by outreach work nationally. all activity falling under this strand will be co-designed with our advisory board and we hope that it will act as an access point for the programme. we are very flexible and will deliver learning in any creative or other learning activity that feels appropriate to the young people.

● informal learning and work experience – opportunities for collaborative participation, work experience and potential employment within the key partner organisations or our extended partner network.

● individual grants/discretionary fund – the programme will include a sizeable grants fund, available for young people to spend on their learning. it will also act as a discretionary fund, for instance, it might cover staffing costs or equipment costs for a young person to work with staff at the forest school or it might cover costs for a young person to work online with articulate. this element of the programme will be designed and overseen by the advisory group. they will agree the criteria to be met by applicants for discretionary funding and the processes for decision making and the group will have a lead role in evaluating applications from individuals and groups for direct funding from this strand. the group will also have a lead role in decision making regarding proposals for expenditure coming directly from the discretionary fund, that relates to activities proposed by any partner.

● social events and showcases – a fun programme of activity (including virtual) providing opportunities to get together, whether it’s to see a film or drink coffee or anything in between.

● digital activity – to maximise continuity, provide creative learning opportunities and to further tackle issues surrounding access. working in a digital medium will also be offered. much of this element will be led by articulate. the aims of the project are as follows -

● the project will aim to work at micro level, supporting individuals to develop their skills, and at a macro level by challenging the narrative surrounding care experience.

● we will endeavour to develop a safe space, whether it’s a rural space at moniack mhor, through articulate in the city or online that creates a sense of ownership for the young people that we support. through provision of this space, we will nurture young people to make their best creative work.

● we will collectively create new high-quality artwork and showcase this so that we can expose other young people, the public and professionals to the wealth of talent that exists within young people with lived experience.

● through close partner working, we will aim to support young people to engage who may experience complex barriers to the creative process and to work with young people who otherwise may be silenced.

● we hope to ensure that every young person who engages with the programme is the owner of their plans at all times, grows in confidence, reflects on their learning and plans their next steps.

● we aim to connect young people living all over scotland, both in a physical and a digital space.

● we hope we will support young people to challenge their perceptions of self and feel confident to take the reins for their own development, whether that is in a creative artform or by enhancing young people’s preparedness for independent living and employment. we will nurture all elements that lead to positive pathways.

● we will aim to collectively support contact between siblings.

● we will aim to enhance our organisation’s inclusive practice through co-design, learning from the young people that we work with, learning from the advisory group, through collaborative training and through evaluation.

● we also hope that by working closely with other legacy partners, other network partners, our advisory board and through public exhibitions and events, we can begin to challenge the narrative surrounding growing up in the care system.

for a full person specification for this role please refer to the moniack mhor website.

to apply for the role, please email a covering letter and up-to-date cv with the title ‘personal development assistant’ to jobs@moniackmhor.org.uk, to arrive no later than 5pm on thursday november 3rd 2022. we would greatly appreciate it if you would also take the time to fill out our equalities monitoring form on the job opportunities page of our website. this is voluntary. please visit https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/about-moniack-mhor/job-opportunities to download the form. you will be notified by email if your application has been successful.

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