Director Rawdon is ultra busy carrying out woodland creation for his local community forest so we are looking for someone to step in and take over his role as much as possible.

What we need . . .

. . . is someone working towards or with a Forest School Level 3 Qualification to lead our forest school programmes, events, birthday parties, school trips and more when the season starts again in early Spring. In other words a Forest School Leader. We need the right person not just with skills but also with a similar ethos based around conservation, education and play. See our person spec below.

Why advertise now?

The role is available in Spring but we need a handover so you can see how things are done. This would really suit someone who is working towards FS Level 3 because you’d get experience and mentoring and then Spring time you’d be set ready to go. In the meantime you’d be working with the Director and forest school assistants on an ad hoc basis mostly on the odd weekend. This gives you the perfect time to try working for us with a toe in the water to see if its for you, finish off any notice and get your forest school qualification.

What experience do I need?

To lead sessions you need a Forest School level 3. Any other experience is desirable but its the FS Lvl 3 we need you to have so we can comply with the requirements of our licence agreement. To work as a Forest School Assistant doesn’t require the FS3 which is why we suggest working ad hoc until you’re qualified. Working with kids and in the outdoors is desirable but if you’ve not got that then join us as an assistant with the goal of becoming a leader in 2023.

What is pay and conditions like?

This is totally negotiable depending on the hours you’d like to work in Spring. We want you to develop naturally and organically. An ambitious driven person might want to go hell for leather, seek to do lots of events and programmes or alternatively we might have someone who needs to balance childcare or other responsibilities so there is less drive to deliver lots of experiences. We are fine with either approach, but they must turn a profit so the business is financially sustainable and ulitimately the business must grow.. Hence the reason that pay is negotiable. Ultimately, we want you and our business to grow at the right pace - hand in hand. That means we can develop the role in terms of hours either 0 hours ad hoc, part time or full time to suit your needs and our order book.

Location

We work through Licence Agreement at Woods in Warrington (north and south), Rainhill and Cadishead. The role may also require some home working - to be determined - based on the candidate.

Person Specification

For Spring we need . . .

Experience and qualifications

Experience of working with children - ESSENTIAL - which you’ll get with us if you join as an assistant

Hold or working towards a Forest School Practioner Level 3 (18 credits or 14 credits with suitable CPD evidence) ESSENTIAL

Experience of forest school or outdoor education activities as part of an ongoing continuous personal professional development DESIRABLE

Outdoor paediatric first aid certificate DESIRABLE

Be physically fit/active and able to carry out lifting, transportation, set up and dismantling of equipment. ESSENTIAL

Suitable DBS ESSENTIAL as you’ll be working with kids and potentially vulnerable adults.

Management or supervisory experience demonstrating leadership of assisting staff ESSENTIAL. You’ll need to manage our brilliant and experienced assistants. To be honest they know the ropes and are really helpful and friendly but we may well get new staff depending on how our order book develops. New staff will need help and development so prepare to be a mentor in 2023.

Ethos

We need someone that fits in well with our ethos. Namely . . .

Have a love of nature and puts nature first
Have a sense of humour and work well with other team members and wants to have fun
Enjoy working for us and pass that joy to our visitors. Be entertaining. Be fun and draw others into that.
Be caring. Be safe. But balance that with being adventurous and exciting.
Be resilient. Be patient. We are all weathers and work with all sorts of people.
Encourage growth - in others, in your own development and in our business. You will have drive to move things forward.
Be flexible. Currently our main revenue is forest school parties at weekends so some weekend working is a must.

Summary

This is a great opportunity for someone that wants to get into outdoor education, forest school and event management at a pace that suits them. You’ll deliver on leading forest parties, private bookings and school trips and grow our business to reintroduce forest school programmes, events in woodland or at sites such as nurseries or schools. Once you’ve got supporting forest events under your belt you’ll start to lead them. Then you will start to develop new events programmes, school trips, etc and become more involved in pushing Fairy Forest School forwards. Thats our vision - so be a part of it and apply with a CV. Got questions? Just email rawdon@fairyforestschool.com