Pastoral and Activity Leaders (Residential)

Job description

The Role 

Pastoral and Activity Leaders will be at the centre of the student experience at InvestIN, taking care of a group of students staying in our accommodation in central Bloomsbury. Pastoral and Activity Leaders will ensure the students’ safety, wellbeing and enjoyment throughout their time with us, and take a lead on running our exciting social programme.  

Our Pastoral and Activity Leaders act as the equivalent of Camp Counsellors and Activity Instructors, supporting the House Parents with the day-to-day care of our students. If you’re looking for an internship-style role to gain experience in working with young people, look no further! 

Key Duties:  

Pastoral Wellbeing: 

• Take care of a group of approximately 25 students for the duration of their summer experience 
• Be the friendly face, inspirational role-model and go-to point of contact for the students under your care 
• Be responsible for the health, safety and wellbeing of students for the duration of their stay, monitoring and reporting on them where appropriate  
• Conduct daily morning, evening and curfew registration, communicating any absences or illnesses with the wider InvestIN team and the student’s primary contact 
• Escort students to their programme site in the morning and collect them in the evening 

Social Programme Management: 

• Run our exciting social programme, including a variety of activities from movie nights to sports days 
• Bring an enthusiastic and can-do attitude to a variety of evening activities, driving student engagement and improving overall student experience 
• Supervise your students, making sure every member of the group is in attendance, engaged and having fun 

Behaviour Management: 

• Manage students’ behaviour against our Behaviour Matrix, delivering warnings where appropriate 
• Ensure students in your care follow their individual behaviour plans 

Safeguarding, admin and compliance: 

• Attend daily meetings with your House Parent to communicate any concerns 
• Facilitate regular handovers with Programme Management Interns and Programme Managers to communicate any relevant information 
• Maintain regular communication with your House Parent and Centre Manager throughout your time on shift, informing them of any issues as they arise 
• Maintain up-to-date records on all InvestIN’s reporting platforms 
• Understand and act in accordance with InvestIN’s ethos and cultural values (set out below) 
• Adhere to InvestIN’s safeguarding policy and staff/student Code of Conduct procedures and practices.  
• Undertake mandatory safeguarding and child protection training other professional development activities to ensure that you remain compliant in meeting InvestIN’s duty of care in safeguarding practice. (KCSIE 2023) 

Please note this list is indicative rather than exhaustive, and you may be required to take on additional responsibilities to ensure the well-being of students in your care. 

Person specification 

You are an enthusiastic and organised individual with a passion for working with children and dedication to children’s well-being. You have previous experience working with young people, ideally in large groups, and are excellent at motivating them and forming strong pastoral relationships. 

You thrive under pressure and love to work in a busy, fast-paced environment. You are a fast learner who is proactive and great at taking initiative.  You are approachable and empathetic to the needs of others, with the ability to be diplomatic when necessary. You are positive, energetic and a strong communicator. You demonstrate a high level of ownership and professionalism when approaching your work. You are excited to work with a rapidly scaling start-up aiming to support school students aged 12-18 in achieving their dream careers.  

Please note that due to the age brackets of our students, we expect our Pastoral and Activity Leaders to demonstrate professional distance and maturity to successfully carry out this role.  

You have, and can demonstrate, the following skills and interests: 

• Experience and enjoyment of working with students aged between 12-18, ideally in large group settings 
• Experience and enjoyment of working in fast paced environments, such as hospitality or retail 
• Experience and genuine passion for supporting the well-being and safeguarding of young people 
• A high level of vigilance when working with young or vulnerable people and working knowledge of safeguarding for 12-18 year olds 
• Experience of working with and leading a team  
• Ability to thrive under pressure 
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills including strong skills communicating with groups 
• A desire to work in education, childcare or a related field 
• A deeply-entrenched sense of personal pride in your work, and a commitment to giving students a 5* experience in every interaction 
• A deeply-invested belief in InvestIN’s sense of purpose and our programmes  
• You feel a sense of passion and belonging when you read our cultural values (set out below) 

Details of role 

Location: In and around Bloomsbury, Central London 

Hours: 55 hours per week on average (you will be asked to ‘opt out’ of the 48-hour Working Time Directive) on a split shift schedule supporting 8.30 - 11.30 and 4.30 - 10.30 weekdays, various hours on weekends

You will accrue Annual Leave throughout your internship at a standard rate (25 days per year pro-rated) 

Salary: £575 per week, plus 2 meals per day and accommodation 

Contract: Fixed term, 3 to 10 weeks over July to August 2024. Potential contract dates:

Monday 1st July - Sunday 11th August

Monday 1st July - Sunday 25th August

Monday 1st July - Sunday 1st September

Monday 22nd July - Sunday 11th August

Monday 22nd July - Sunday 25th August

Monday 22nd July - Sunday 1st August

Additional: International students on visas which allow them to work full-time over university holidays will be able to apply for this position.  

Offers will be subject to successful completion of training, including Safeguarding training and DBS checks 

InvestIN’s Cultural Values

Experience is Truth:

We believe that to learn is to experience. Our mission is to deliver professional experiences to young people that they would otherwise consider a far-flung fantasy. This ‘experiential learning’ appeals to all the senses and requires live in-person interaction; providing a welcome counterpoint to the restrictive and atomised environment of cyberspace.

Empowerment and Ownership:

We treat all of our students as young professionals, not simply older schoolchildren. InvestIN empowers students by thrusting them into a whirlwind of professional-life simulation, and asking them to stand up and be counted. Along with that empowerment comes the valuable lessons of responsibility. Students are expected to take ownership of their careers immediately, as we give them detailed advice about how to plant the seeds for a successful future; starting now.

Action and Urgency:

InvestIN believes that success requires both action and urgency. We have been able to grow at an exponential rate because we move ideas quickly into tangible steps forward and we execute them. InvestIN’s students refuse to be left behind and want to be able to cut through abstract procrastination; becoming empowered to act with decisiveness and urgency.

Ambition:

InvestIN is a fervent supporter of determined ambition. We believe that young people - and whole organisations - must continue to ‘think big’ in order to achieve their potential. We therefore coach our students to believe that there are no limits to their career ambitions, and give them the tools they need to thrive.

Imagination:

InvestIN is not an ordinary organisation. We create interactive simulations of professional life, which requires a commitment to using our imagination to deliver extraordinary experiences for our students. At the same time, we encourage our students to imagine themselves as young professionals now, not at some distant point in the future. We have discovered that tomorrow’s achievements are born from today’s visualisation.

Integrity:

At InvestIN, we understand the great responsibility that we take on in coaching students. Sometimes the simplest sentence or action can have a lasting impact on a young person’s life. We insist on running our operation with the highest level of integrity: from promoting the value of hard work and satisfaction over shortcuts and monetary rewards, to constantly looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Safer Recruitment, Safeguarding and EDI statement

InvestIN is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, seasonal workers, and external professionals to share this commitment.

InvestIN are committed to making our recruitment processes as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values difference, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to InvestIN’s culture.

InvestIN are a disability confident employer.

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to work with InvestIN will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of Police records via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and barring Service helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable candidates gaining access to minors or vulnerable adults.

Open Source Searching Guidance

InvestIN are committed to ensuring that we follow and implement legislation and advisories as set out in the KCSIE 2023 framework. Please see the below statement extracted from Harrison Clark Rickerbys Solicitor,, regarding the updates within the KCSIE 2023 framework relating to open source searching as part of the safer recruitment process.

KCSIE 2023 states:

“… as part of the shortlisting process, schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on… shortlisted candidates. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the school or college might want to explore with the applicant at interview.” (para 220, KCSIE 2023).On the face of it, this new requirement seems relatively straightforward; however, no further guidance is set out within KCSIE, and schools will undoubtedly have questions about online searches from a practical, legal, and regulatory perspective. This note addresses those key questions.