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Salary
Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Job grade
Contract type
Loan
Secondment
Length of employment
Business area
Type of role
Environment and Sustainability
Project Delivery
Working pattern
Number of jobs available
Contents
Location
About the job
Job summary
Westonbirt, the National Arboretum (www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt-the-nationalarboretum) is one of the UKs most famous botanical tree collections and is internationally renowned both for its tree collection and historic landscape. It was founded in 1829 by Robert Holford and is classed as Grade 1 on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens and is one of the worlds greatest examples of an arboretum laid out in the picturesque style. As well as holding five National Collections the site has over 130 champion trees – the largest of their kind in Britain. Its home to some of the rarest trees in the world with trees from Australia, China as well as native trees and a semi-ancient woodland.
Its an exciting time as we progress our ten-year vision to become a world leader in trees, inspiring people through education, participation and conservation. It is now more crucial than ever with climate change that we ensure we achieve our net zero ambitions and we engage our visitors with the importance of trees and caring for the environment.
Since 1956 the arboretum has been managed by the Forestry Commission and is one of the six districts managed by Forestry England who manages the nations forests. Our mission is to connect everyone with them, by creating and caring for our forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow. We look after more land and more trees than any other organisation in the country cared for by around 1,000 staff and volunteers and enjoyed by over 226 million visits each year.
The team are supported by the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum, an-onsite fundraising and membership charity with over 36,000 members. The arboretum now attracts over 500,000 visitors per year and is the largest pay to enter visitor attraction in Gloucestershire.
As part of our ten-year vision, we are regenerating an area of Silk Wood as a community woodland. We want to engage school groups, community groups, volunteers, and others with the lifecycle of tree planting at the Arboretum.
Job description
This new role will deliver the engagement based outcomes of the Silk Wood Community Planting Project. This project is focused on regenerating 5 hectares of clear felled woodland in Silk Wood, due to an ash dieback outbreak.
In this 2-year fixed term position, you will be responsible for ensuring effective group engagement and coordination throughout the project, leading group activities, consultation, monitoring, and evaluation to engage and inform the local community and stakeholders.
You will develop engaging activities for participants of the project and also design legacy activities that ensure the ongoing health of the woodland and its sustainable development.
You will work alongside the Project Manager and the Communications and Interpretation Officer to support fundraising and to create reports against funding targets. There will be opportunities to support other engagement projects in development at the arboretum.
This role will involve year-round outdoor work in all weathers and on rough ground.
An enhanced DBS check is required as this role will involve working with schools and community groups including those with vulnerable adults. This may also include leading and/or working with small groups and in one-to-one situations.
Key Work Areas
Developing the Projects community outreach
- Help to define a programme of community activity and co-ordinate its delivery to achieve positive social outcomes and reinforce Westonbirts reputation as welcoming and inclusive.
- Proactively develop the network of local partners, with a focus on youth, mental health and wellbeing.
- Develop best practice to support Westonbirts wellbeing / social remit.
Programme delivery
- Identify partnership opportunities and work collaboratively to deliver creative projects that deliver measurable positive outcomes for participants mental health and wellbeing. In particular target local audiences currently under-represented in our profile including youth and excluded adults. This will include practical conservation tasks.
- Develop / supervise community volunteer groups to support delivery of programmes.
- Assist with the delivery of agreed Project outcomes.
- Support training / coordination of volunteers.
Building long term capacity
- Assist with implementing a rigorous evaluation process that captures both the success of projects and allows us to refine our ways of working, ensuring timely and accurate reporting to funders.
- Work with our fundraising team to identify and develop external funding opportunities to support the Project.
Person specification
Essential
- A successful track-record of developing and delivering community-centred activities, ideally in a heritage / environmental setting
- Experience of working with audiences facing mental health issues / social exclusion
- Demonstrable understanding in stakeholder management and communication, including consultation, negotiation, relationship building and seeking feedback
- A collaborative approach that listens and responds to the needs of people from all backgrounds
- Excellent communication skills, including report writing and presentation skills
- Experience of using risk assessments to manage H&S / welfare issues
Desirable
- Knowledge and understanding of threats to trees and woodlands, as well as the importance of conservation and sustainability
- Experience in project management within the environmental, heritage, visitor attraction, or charity sectors
- Experience in externally funded projects and supporting funding applications
- A suitable qualification (e.g. community, youth, social care)
- Experience supervising volunteers to deliver community projects
- Experience in tree planting
- A full driving licence that enables driving in the UK
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Benefits
£7,191 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
We are focused on ensuring that our staff are respected, included, supported, and engaged. We love difference and know that every single person is unique. We encourage an environment that values the uniqueness in everyone.
- Working in one of the UKs most beautiful landscapes and tree collections with flexible working options and a range of family friendly benefits.
- Supported by the Civil Engineering team, including other supervisors, engineers based across the country. There is no guarantee of job progression but there are more opportunities in the wider engineering team, estates or recreation teams.
- Generous annual leave allowance starting at 25 days per year (pro-rata for part time). Leave increases by 1 day each year to a maximum of 30 days. After 20 years service you will receive a one-off award of 5 extra days holiday. In addition, you will receive all public holidays plus an additional 2.5 privilege days (pro-rata for part time).
- Additional opportunities to support our Events programme including concerts and 10k’s including potential overtime payments.
- A range of wellbeing benefits, including access to an Employee Assistance Programme 24/7, Bike to Work Scheme plus many more.
- A culture which promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment.
- Free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums.
- Three paid volunteering days per year (pro-rata for part time).
We are committed to lifelong learning, and we will support your career development in a variety of ways, including:
- Learning and development tailored to your role.
- Continual Professional Development: support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies (APM).
- 5 dedicated learning days a year (from e-learning to traditional training, team activities to coaching and shadowing), to target the skills you need to take your career forward.
- Civil Service Learning (CSL) online platform provides access to a host of high-quality training courses on a variety of useful and relevant subjects.
- Dedicated Technical Training in support of our operational functions, ensuring that keeping people safe is central to everything we do.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This is a Fixed Term Appointment for 2 years with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.
Please apply online via Civil Service Jobs.
- A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The CV is split into 3 sections and requests: Job History, Previous Skills/Experience, Full Qualification Details.
- A Personal Statement (no longer than 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience are suitable for the role, with particular reference to the essential and desirable criteria in the personal specification.
Sift Information
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using your CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Interview Information
Interviews will be held in person at Westonbirt, the National Arboretum. We will aim to carry out interviews in September, subject to the number of applicants and we will aim to give one week’s notice. Those invited to interview will be assessed against Behaviours listed in the advert and Experience.
Further Information
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to Forestry from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.
Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern and hours are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying. The duties of the post require a flexible 7 day working week to allow for occasional weekends, public and privilege holidays and evenings, with the exception of Christmas Day.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via fcerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the Assistance required section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Sophie Nash
- Email : sophie.nash@forestryengland.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : fcerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
