Job Description
Saracens Foundation is the charitable arm of Saracens Rugby Club. Established in 2000, the Foundation has spent the last 20 years working in the North London and Hertfordshire communities improving lives and building a stronger society. We are dedicated to addressing the needs of our community using sport, breaking down barriers to participation, developing interventions to address health issues, and creating pathways into education and employment.
As a community-based organisation, we empower all groups in society to better themselves with a wide range of projects. We work across the age range of our community with projects for school children to the over-50s, from disabled groups to prisoners. The Saracens Foundation has a responsibility to the breadth of society’s excluded or neglected groups to address their needs using sport as a tool for positive change.
In conjunction with The Pavilion, Pupil Referral Unit, the Saracens Foundation have created this new project with the aim of challenging the normalisation of self-destructive, violent behaviour in some of London’s vulnerable and excluded youth. The project will aim to bring an improvement in protective factors and a decrease in risk factors in these young people. The project will offer a package of one-to-one (1:1) support and incorporate group workshops and follow up discussions. It includes specific focus areas identified by the PRU, young person and their families, with a holistic and tailored approach to build resilient, adaptable young people.
The Project Officer will develop professional and supportive relationships with young people by engaging them in long-term mentoring and a powerful curriculum of workshops and discussions. Workshops will focus on Teamwork, Leadership, Resilience, Personal Responsibility, Weapons Awareness, Problem Solving Skills, Anger Management, Racism, Stereotyping and Social Media. You will be responsible for coordinating the effective running of these workshops by working collaboratively with our partner or third-party organisations and beneficiaries from our prison projects. You will lead the ‘fortnightly circles’, which coincide with the workshops, where personal issues relating to the workshops can be discussed to identify teachable moments, in which participants may be questioning their actions or behaviour.

Roles and responsibilities to include but not limited to:
Develop and deliver sessions with children and young people which support them to address violent or negative behaviour at home, in school or in the community.
Lead 1:1 mentoring sessions with young people.
Develop a curriculum of impactful workshops and coordinate their delivery.
Keep accurate files and records to produce impactful evidence.
Facilitate our volunteer mentors to work effectively with identified young people.

The successful candidate will have:
Experience of working with children and young people who have shown negative or offending behaviours
An understanding of risk factors connected with offending behaviour.
An ability to motivate, inspire and mentor people towards achieving their goals.
Be comfortable delivering 1:1 and group sessions, face-to-face.
An ability to build relationships and work collaboratively with a range of partners.
Knowledge and experience of safeguarding requirements when working with young people and vulnerable adults.
Ability to monitor, evaluate and assess project performance.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a member of a team.
Good judgement and knowing when to seek advice or support.
An organised and efficient approach to work.
Experience of working in either a Youth Offending Service or similar working background or Mentoring, Counselling or Youth Work qualification(s) at L3 or above.

How to apply
The role is full time (37.5 hours) with 3 days a week spent working at the PRU and the remainder of the week working from Copthall Stadium or home, depending on the Covid situation. We are particularly keen to hear from individuals who may have lived experience of the challenges faced by at-risk young people or who have had to demonstrate resilience to overcome significant challenge in their life. Applications should be made by submitting a CV and covering letter outlining suitability to the role for the attention of Sangita Asani, HR Manager at recruitment@saracens.net. Candidates should put the name of the specific role they are applying to in the email subject line. This is a two stage interview process and where candidates have been successful in the initial round, they will be invited back to deliver a practical delivery session at the PRU in Barnet during the w/c 11th January 2021. Please note that due to a high volume of application, only successful candidates will be contacted. This is a direct recruitment campaign, so no agencies please.