The Church of England in London is growing, vibrant and at the heart of communities throughout the capital. At the London Diocesan Fund we seek to do everything we can to support this mission and growth, using our resources to help our parishes and chaplains to serve over 4 million people.

The Diocese of London (LDF) is seeking an Apprentice Coordinator to play a key role within the Children & Youth team, based from Pimlico, London.

The Diocese of London has launched the 2030 Vision outlining its priorities for the next ten years. At the heart of the vision is for every Londoner to encounter the Love of God in Christ. One of the three main priorities is to see churches “Growing Younger” across the diocese.

The Diocese of London currently has nine Children & Youth Apprentices and each year recruits new Apprentices to replace those who will graduate at the end of their three-year placements. The programme aims to inspire people to be part of church communities and to encourage them to work in London as children and youth workers. We hope this will lead to greater numbers and diversity in children and youth ministry.

In order to support the continuing success of this programme, we are now hoping to appoint a part-time Apprentice Coordinator on a permanent contract to work in partnership with the Ridley Hall’s London centre and the placement parishes. The Apprentice Coordinator will enable the placements to be properly administered and monitored from a Diocesan perspective, as well as, providing additional support for the apprentices and their parish line managers by having regular meetings and telephone calls.

This post will require supporting local groups of Children’s and Youth workers, managing training courses and general administration. The specific tasks and duties may vary from those mentioned below and the post holder will be required to undertake any other duties that are commensurate with the role. There will be a review of the job description on a regular basis to ensure that it is still up to date with the changing needs of the apprentice programme.

The principal aim of this post is to implement the apprentice programme strategy on a day-to-day basis for the Diocese, in liaison with the Growing Younger Programme Manager, the Head of Children's and Youth Ministry Support and the Growing Younger Programme Board.

COORDINATING THE PROGRAMME

• Work with Archdeacons and the Children and Youth Team to establish potential parish placements.
• Work with the HR team to co-ordinate the process of recruitment, assessment and selection of the apprentices, including pre-employment checks.
• Support parishes with their apprentice programme application.
• Support Line Managers by organising training for them at the beginning of year one in StrengthsFinder and line management expectations. Meet and talk with them each once a term, to catch up on how apprentice is doing and if they need any support.
• Meet regularly with apprentices at their parishes and talk regularly with them on the phone to chat through their work and how they are doing. Know where each of them is at and broadly what they are focussing on at the moment. Get support from HR about how to manage different issues.
• Meet with Ridley London once a term to talk about the apprentices, any actions they need from us. Keep in touch more regularly. Get feedback from the apprentices and parish line managers about the course and feed this back.
• Provide regular updates to the Growing Younger Programme Board and funders to keep them updated on the progress of the programme and the students.
• Work with the LDF HR team and Finance team to ensure that all administration tasks relating to the coordination of the Apprentice programme is undertaken efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner.
• Ensure regular content is generated for Communications team.
• Plan and organise the third year Apprentices Graduation event each September.

SUPPORT OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH WORK IN THE DIOCESE

• Organise the paid Children and Youth workers lunches each term.
• Help with the organisation of Bishop’s / area days (varying levels of involvement depending on the area).
• General admin, e.g. paying invoices, setting up first aid training, sending out minutes for different events etc.
• Keep track and monitor the Apprentices weekly reports via Airtable and consolidate the data into regular reports for the programme board and funders.

The postholder may be required to undertake any other duties that are commensurate with the role.

Special conditions or working arrangements applicable to the role:

This role is subject to an enhanced DBS check as they will be visiting apprentices while they are working with children.

Please refer to the attached Job Description for the full details on the main responsibilities.

Experience, knowledge, training and qualifications

Essential

• Administrative experience, especially in scheduling and prioritizing of tasks
• Proven ability to maintain good records, including basic database management.
• Basic mentoring and coaching skills
• Experience of working with children and young people

Desirable

• Experience of working with apprentices and apprentice training providers
• Knowledge of HR administration
• Experience of working in Children and Youth Ministry

Aptitudes and abilities

Essential

• Administratively efficient with strong attention to detail
• Ability to deal with many and varied tasks and prioritise work to meet timescales
• Professional manner
• IT efficient and familiarity with Microsoft Office, databases and CRM’s
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to deal with a variety of people from differing backgrounds and authority

Desirable

• An awareness and enthusiasm in the use of social media as a communication tool
• Creativity and entrepreneurial skills to innovate, initiate and maintain good and effective processes where necessary

Personal attributes

Essential

• Ability to work enthusiastically in support of the aims and ethos of the Church of England
• Willingness to work in line with the Diocese of London Safeguarding policy
• Ability to remain calm under pressure and to anticipate what needs to be done
• Ability to work flexibly over a wide range of tasks
• Flexibility to occasionally work outside of normal working hours, including potential overnight stays for annual retreats where necessary
• Good interpersonal and social skills
• Ability to work with others but also independently when required

Desirable

• Experience with Strengthsfinder coaching

Please refer to the attached Job Description for the full details on Person Specification.

The LDF is the employment body that serves and supports the Diocese of London and Church of England. The Diocesan of London comprises of c400 parishes north of the River Thames and within the M25 motorway. You can find our Diocesan 2030 vision, which outlines our priorities for the next 10 years here: london.anglican.org/our-2030-vision

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Diocese of London is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce which represents our context and wider community.

We are aware that those of Global Majority Heritage/United Kingdom Minority Ethnic (GMH/UKME), women, and disabled people are currently under-represented among our clergy and workforce, and we particularly encourage applications from those with the relevant skills and experience that will increase this representation.

Benefits

The LDF offers a supportive working environment, opportunity for career development and the following financial benefits:

• Competitive remuneration package
• 27 annual leave days to rise to 30 after 5 years’ service, plus bank holidays
• 15% employer pension contribution and salary sacrifice available
• Death in service benefit x3 of basic gross salary
• Enhanced maternity leave of six months full pay, after 12 months’ of employment
• Season ticket loans of public transport
• Access to Benenden Health Insurance
• EAP counselling through Health Assured
• Up to £100 for eye test and contribution to spectacles
• Two additional paid days for community volunteering