Job opportunities | Schoolreaders

Current job opportunities at Schoolreaders

To apply for any of the below positions, please download the job application form using the links, and email it along with a copy of your c.v and cover letter to: apply@schoolreaders.org

Head of Fundraising

Place of work: Bedford Office (Hybrid)

Hours: Full-time or part-time (30 to 37.5 (full time) hours per week)

Salary: £43,000 - £48,000 per year (pro rata to hours worked per week)
Reporting to: CEO

About Schoolreaders:

Schoolreaders was launched ten years ago in Bedfordshire with the aim of recruiting volunteers to provide one-to-one reading support for children in primary schools across the country. Over 22,000 children in over 1000 schools are receiving weekly reading sessions from a Schoolreaders volunteer. One in four children are leaving primary school unable to read to the expected Government standard. Our service is needed more than ever before with 1 in 6 primary schools across the country asking Schoolreaders for reading volunteers. Building on past successes, we have ambitious plans to expand our provision, focussing on areas of deprivation in which children need our support the most.

Role Description:

We are looking for a highly motivated, experienced Head of Fundraising to lead our small, dynamic Schoolreaders fundraising team and help grow income in line with the Charity's ambitious and exciting plans. This is the ideal opportunity for someone hoping to achieve great results within a rapidly growing charity which is impacting the lives of thousands of children every week.

What you can expect:

A highly rewarding, senior fundraising role where you can develop your own skills whilst making your mark on a fast growing national children's charity. Schoolreaders is a highly professional charity which values every team member's contribution to our team efforts. We offer a generous holiday allowance, enhanced sick pay, an employee assistance programme, plus training and development opportunities. If you want to lead a great team in a fast moving, welcoming environment whilst making a huge impact on children's literacy across the country, this could be the perfect role for you!

Applications will be reviewed, and interviews offered, on an ongoing basis. We reserve the right to close the role prior to the closing date should a suitable applicant be found, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Schoolreaders is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and requires staff to share this commitment. This post is subject to a range of vetting checks including a basic disclosure check of unspent criminal convictions.

Schoolreaders is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales (1159157)

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Job Description

IT & Data Officer

Place of work: Bedford Office

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Salary: £25,000 - £28,000 depending on experience
Reporting to: Business Support Manager

Minimum 30 hours per week or full-time

Please note, we are actively seeking candidates for this vacancy and will be conducting interviews throughout the duration that the role remains open. Due to the ongoing interview process, we reserve the right to close the position earlier than the specified deadline. We encourage interested applicants to submit their applications as soon as possible to ensure consideration.

Role Description:

To support the growth of the charity, Schoolreaders is specifically focused on developing its Business Support Department. As part of this, we are looking for a dynamic and pragmatic IT & Data Officer. You will be coming onboard to support the day-to-day management and help in the development of the charities IT systems.

This role will report into the Business Support Manager. You will work alongside the Business Support Manager (BSM) and external contractors to ensure the ongoing delivery of reliable IT services and get involved in the projects to develop our IT capabilities.

This is a varied role that would suit a graduate or someone with experience of working in an IT role who is looking to develop both their technical and customer service skills. You would also need to have a self-starting attitude and be happy to get stuck in as you will be working in a small friendly team. There may be occasion for you to support colleagues outside of your IT role.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide first (and second where possible) line support for all the charity’s IT systems.
Co-ordinate and assist external contractors on third line support issues.
Set up new IT equipment including laptops and software
Become the “go to” person for any IT questions for the Schoolreaders team.
Plan and execute IT projects as part of the charity’s IT annual strategy.
Support the fundraising and operations teams in their use of the CRM, including producing reports.
Assist the BSM in developing the charity’s IT strategy and annual plans.
Occasional help with other business support functions

Trusts & Grants Manager

Place of work: Bedford Office with hybrid working

Hours: 30 - 37 hours per week over 4/5 days

Salary: £36,000 - £39,000 p/a
Reporting to: Head of Fundraising

Role Description:

We are looking for an experienced, and highly motivated Trusts Manager to join the small, dynamic Schoolreaders fundraising team. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone who wants to play a key role in a fast-growing charity that is impacting the lives of thousands of children every week.

What we are looking for:

Schoolreaders is looking for a Trusts Manager who can take the lead in maintaining and growing our well-established support from trusts and foundations. You will have a portfolio of trust supporters along with experience of being involved in research, bid-writing, face-to-face meetings as well as achieving fundraising targets. You will oversee a small and enthusiastic team of part time trust officers.

You will have the opportunity to work with the Head of Fundraising to develop a medium to long term strategy to ensure sustainable support from both existing and potential trust and foundation supporters. There will be an ongoing need to research and identify grant-funding in both national and local statutory grants.

You will have reporting and budgetary experience which will support your input into annual budget plans and monthly reporting requirements as well developing and maintaining our fundraising database.

We have a fantastic team of volunteers based throughout the counties of England who you will work with to maximise fundraising opportunities.

You will have a strong knowledge of fundraising legislation and good practice.

If you have excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, if you’re highly motivated with excellent organisation abilities and love working as part of a team this could be the role for you!

Ideally, you will have a minimum of 2 years line management and trust / grant experience with a proven track record of generating significant one-off and multi-year grants from major trusts and grant makers.

Other

Ability to travel to occasional meetings with supporters as required: Essential

What you can expect:

An exciting and rewarding role where you can develop your own trust management skills whilst making your mark on a fast-growing national children’s charity. Schoolreaders is a highly professional charity which values every team-member’s contribution to our team efforts. We offer a generous holiday allowance, enhanced sick pay, an employee assistance programme, plus training and development opportunities. If you want to be part of a great team in a fast-moving, welcoming environment whilst making a huge impact on children’s literacy across the country, this could be the perfect role for you!

Main Duties

1. To take the lead in maintaining and growing our well-established support from trusts and foundations. You will manage your own portfolio of trust supporters, involving research, bid-writing and meeting monitoring requirements, plus face-to-face meetings, often at the highest level.
2. To line manage a trust officer, (one part time direct report).
3. To work with the Head of Fundraising to develop a medium to long-term fundraising strategy for developing sustainable support from existing and potential trust and foundation supporters where possible aiming for multi-year partnerships.
4. To research and identify other sources of grant-funding, including national and local statutory grants.
5. To input into annual budget plans, monitor progress and income on an ongoing basis, and prepare monthly variance reports for the trusts/grants team.
6. To help develop and maintain our fundraising database and our systems for applying and reporting to trusts and grant-makers, to ensure effective coordination across the team.
7. To make face-to-face presentations and represent Schoolreaders as necessary.
8. To work with other members of the Schoolreaders team, including our volunteer County Teams, to maximise opportunities for fundraising from trusts and grant-makers.
9. To ensure that the role is carried out in accordance with fundraising legislation and good practice. 10. To ensure that due diligence is carried out thoroughly with all funding partners.
11. To carry out any other duties which are relevant and appropriate to the role.

Personal Specification

Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills (including PowerPoint presentations)
Excellent written skills with an ability to write compelling, informative bids and reports
Proactive and highly motivated, with excellent organisation skills
Proven ability to work with others in a team and to motivate others
Ability to successfully prioritise workload with competing deadlines
Results-orientated with evidence of achieving ambitious targets
Excellent relationship management
Strong research, analytical and report writing skills
Knowledge and understanding of good practice and legislation relating to fundraising, including GDPR
Fully computer literate with excellent IT skills including high competency in excel.
Hands on experience of fundraising databases
Experience using Salesforce
Proven experience of managing budgets
At least 2 years line management experience
At least 2 years relevant trusts / grants fundraising experience
Proven track record of generating significant one off and multi-year grants from major trusts and grant makers
Ability to travel to occasional meetings with supporters as required

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Office Administrator

Job Title: Office Administrator

Hours of work: 25 to 37.5 hours per week over 5 days Monday to Friday within office hours which are 9am - 5pm with 30-minute lunch break

Salary: £23,500 (FTE)

Contract: 3-year contract

Reporting to: Head of Operations

Location: Office based, Bedford Heights, Brickhill Drive, MK41 7PH

An exciting opportunity to become part of the operations team at Schoolreaders, a small, young and fast-growing charity that is expanding to help more children learn to read across the country. Schoolreaders operations team recruits volunteers from local communities and matches them to a primary school where they listen to children read on a one-to-one basis. We support over 24,000 children in over 1,000 schools every week with a Schoolreaders volunteer. Our aim is to make a real difference to the state of literacy in the UK, particularly for those children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. One in four children are leaving primary school not able to read to the expected standard.

The core of the operation is recruiting volunteers in target areas for specific schools. The operations team then process the volunteer and school applicants, match the volunteer to the best-fit school, and then there is ongoing management of, and communication with the volunteers and schools.

Your skills and experience will reflect excellent administrative skills, strong organisational skills, customer service ability, familiarity with telephone and on-line communication, and effective spoken and written English. You need to be competent with Microsoft Office and IT generally and it would be an advantage to have experience with the Salesforce CRM system.

Main purpose and scope of the job:

To work within a small team to support the operations function of the charity on a daily basis. This role involves dealing with all aspects of administration including: enquiries, managing post and couriers, providing administrative support to the head of operations manager and wider operations team, booking meeting rooms and setting up zoom calls, organising mail-outs and other tasks which contribute to a smooth running operation. This is an office-based role.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

· Providing administrative support for the operations team, county teams and head of operations

· Dealing with general email and directing phone enquiries

· E-mail inbox management and prioritisation

· Assisting with the filing and archiving of documentation (online and offline)

· Managing the volunteer lanyard process

· Completing administrative tasks including customer engagement

· Managing and ordering promotional materials

· Carrying out printing, photocopying, and preparing presentation documents

· Minute taking of meetings

· Data entry and updating different databases

· Managing and distributing all incoming and outgoing post and couriers

· Providing support for mass mailshots and partner surveys

· Undertaking research as needed for operations

· Carrying out any other duties which are relevant and appropriate to the role

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Volunteer and School Recruitment Co-ordinator

Location: Home based, with travel to schools and volunteer events in the North of England plus occasional head office meetings in Bedford, MK41 7PH

Salary: £23,500 (FTE)

Contract: 3-year contract.

Hours of work: 30 to 37.5 hours per week to be worked within 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday with 30-minute lunch break

Reports to: Senior Recruitment Coordinator

Role Description:

We are looking for a committed individual to join Schoolreaders to be part of the team delivering the new North of England Project, with the aim to support 26,000 children over the 3 years of the project. This role is to recruit primary schools and corresponding targeted volunteers in the Northern counties and then support both parties to enable active volunteers are in school supporting children read as soon as possible.

This is a pivotal role and will require adaptability. Your skills and experience will reflect volunteer and customer service ability, presenting skills, excellent organisational skills, a strong familiarity with telephone and on-line communication with the public, and excellent spoken and written English. You need to be competent with Excel and IT generally and it would be an advantage to have experience with the Salesforce CRM system. A background in the education sector would also be beneficial.

Main purpose and scope of the job:

To be one of two roles that co-ordinate the volunteer and school targeted recruitment for Schoolreaders in the Northern counties. This includes managing the county ambassador volunteers and working with the operations team when Schoolreaders launch in the new Northern counties. Schoolreaders currently has 2,400 volunteers and receives 200+ applications each month.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Recruit schools within specific counties with particular focus on areas with the biggest need as per KPI’s.
Recruit volunteers in specific areas within counties for schools as per annual targets and work to retain existing volunteers.
Proactively look for innovative ways to increase volunteer and school applications
Co-ordinate and support the county volunteer teams to recruit volunteers in targeted areas.
Build strong relationships with partner schools to develop on-going partnerships ensuring more volunteers are placed and retained by the school and more children reached.
Engage and manage relationships with a range of stakeholders, including education organisations, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and other organisations such as community groups to recruit both schools and volunteers in targeted areas.
Schools research, engagement and influencing. Support schools through the process from sign-up to having active volunteers in school each week, sharing best practice and advice on retention of volunteers.
Actively promote the volunteering opportunity through events both online and in-person. Regularly attend in-person events where you will present and recruit volunteers and attend school recruitment opportunities as required.
Plan and run campaigns and use social media to recruit volunteers.
Produce regular county reports and project updates against targets.
Coordinate and update volunteer sites i.e. www.do-it.org
Recruit, induct and train new county team members.
Coordinate and facilitate the delivery of the national Schoolreaders County team. meetings biannually along with termly county zoom meetings.
Identify relevant local media and liaise with the communications manager re placing articles as directed.
Follow the operations systems and procedures. Support the operations team during peak times.
Any other operational duties as requested by the Schoolreaders team

Essential skills:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Confident presenting to a variety of audiences

• Friendly and professional telephone manner

• Strong administrative skills

• Excellent knowledge of MS Office Suite, in particular Excel and reporting

• Initiative and the ability to be tenacious when required

• Reliable and able to work on your own initiative

• Strong research and analytical skills

• Good time management and ability to prioritise tasks

• Understanding of the important role of volunteers

• Willing to undertake a full DBS check

Desirable skills:

• Experience of co-ordinating volunteers previously

• CRM Experience, i.e. Salesforce

• Previous experience working in an educational environment

• Social media experience

What we offer:

Generous holiday allowance. Enhanced sick pay. Employee assistance programme. Training and development opportunities. Changing children’s life chances through your work.

Further details including the job description and an application form can be found on our website.

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Thank you for your interest in Schoolreaders

To apply for any of the above positions, please download the job application form using the links above, and email it along with a copy of your c.v, covering letter, and any supporting documents to apply@schoolreaders.org

Current job opportunities at Schoolreaders

To apply for any of the below positions, please download the job application form using the links, and email it along with a copy of your c.v and cover letter to: apply@schoolreaders.org

Head of Fundraising

IT & Data Officer

Trusts & Grants Manager

Office Administrator

Volunteer and School Recruitment Co-ordinator

To apply for any of the above positions, please download the job application form using the links above, and email it along with a copy of your c.v, covering letter, and any supporting documents to apply@schoolreaders.org

EMAIL US:

office@schoolreaders.org

CALL US:

01234 924111

WRITE TO US:

Schoolreaders, Bedford Heights, Brickhill Drive, Bedford, MK41 7PH

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