Head of Babyzone Barnet

Job Description

Head of Babyzone Barnet

About Babyzone

Babyzone is a charity which aims to support families with babies and toddlers. We’re focused on breaking down the barriers that many parents face in accessing high quality early years offers. We’re an ambitious charity working with OnSide Youth Zones and backed by philanthropists.

Babyzones are currently delivered each week in Youth Zones where we run free exploratory play and evidence-based early years classes in a clean, safe and welcoming environment. We design our approach around the needs of lower income families, but are open to all. Parents don’t sign up in advance, there’s no timetable and we don’t take names and personal details from our families. We believe that by removing barriers we are creating a fully accessible, inclusive place for parents and carers to bring their children to play, read, chat and sing together.

Our office is based in West London at Scale Space, and we work in amazing Youth Zones to deliver Babyzone. This role is a great opportunity to join us at the start of our journey and really make a difference to how Babyzone grows and the families we support. We reach around 150 families per day in Babyzone Barnet currently. Around 50% of the families who visit us come from low income families. We want to reach more of the families who need us around the country. We’ll do this by opening more Babyzones, but also by showing others how to remove barriers.

Being relatively new, we’re learning as we go, and we’re excited for what comes next. This role will be integral to our knowledge development and our growth.

The Role

Purpose of the role:

The Head of Babyzone Barnet has responsibility for successfully setting up partnerships in Barnet for Babyzone. You will also have the responsibility of most importantly, ensuring the delivery of a quality and consistent Babyzone offering in Barnet with 150+ babies, toddlers and their carers attending each week. This role is accountable for the effective development and delivery of Babyzone offer, including developing local stakeholder relationships, exploring local funding opportunities, and continuing to learn and refine the offer based on evidence and feedback from our families. In addition, you will be expected to work with the central Babyzone team and the Heads of Babyzones in other Youth Zone locations to support the growth of the Babyzone concept and expand the impact of the model in Barnet and beyond. Making sure Babyzone Barnet achieves and then maintains a high level of quality so that we continue to provide a fun, supportive, safe, and inclusive place and continues to attracts and retains families to spend time with their babies and toddlers, chatting, singing, reading, and playing.

Responsibilities

Delivery management

• Responsible for hiring the Babyzone Barnet operations officers
• Responsible for leading and managing the team that deliver Babyzone activities, including line managing the operations officers who support Babyzone delivery each week and any volunteers who support delivery
• Responsible for ensuring that Babyzone has the correct equipment to be delivered safely and at a high quality
• Overseeing external contractors to ensure a high quality and consistent Babyzone offer is delivered in Barnet every week
• To act as the key on-site point of contact for operational problem solving, risk management and safeguarding
• To advocate, understand and protect the Babyzone principles, making sure they are applied in practice

Operations

• Lead data collection and reporting including supporting any piloting new evaluation approaches
• Reviewing the data each week with the central team for our weekly report and identifying any changes we need to make to our approach
• Understand and manage the Babyzone budget in Barnet
• Input into the development Babyzone replicable toolkit and model of delivery working with the central team and the Heads of Babyzone Barking and Croydon, and piloting new approaches which support this development based on local ‘place based’ need
• To play an active part in the Babyzone UK national management team and able to represent and advocate for Babyzone in Barnet and beyond

Partnerships

• Understand the needs of families with babies and toddlers in Barnet, what they need and would like from their local Babyzone
• Responsible for building and maintaining a close working relationship with the CEO of Unitas and other relevant Youth Zone staff such as facilities, safeguarding and reception team
• To own and build local stakeholder relationships e.g. council, other charities and local WOW World Group delivery team to build on the success and sustainability of the offer
• Lead on Barnet specific Babyzone fundraising, and exploring grant opportunities and input into UK-wide fundraising efforts
• Lead on recruitment of local families using the Babyzone UK recommended methods and continuously test and refine these approaches together with wider Babyzone UK team

Team working

• Working closely with the central team to develop the Babyzone organisation
• Being an integral part of the management team; demonstrating and holding the Babyzone principles at the heart of how we work
• Working in a collaborative way with all Babyzone staff, trustees and partners
• Leading an effective Babyzone Barnet delivery team
• Responsible for HR administration as a line manager to comply with organisational policies and processes
• Recruitment of staff and volunteers when required

Your skills and experience

We are looking for a motivated and pro-active person to join the Babyzone team who, ideally lives locally to Barnet and is:

Passionate about Babyzone’s mission

• Understands and cares about Babyzone’s aim to support low income families through a high quality offer
• Passionate about being involved in changing the lives of little people (children) who need it the most
• Motivated and committed to the Babyzone principles and shows sensitivity to the needs of the families who visit Babyzone

Flexible approach

• Can work autonomously and as part of a growing team
• Able to juggle and prioritise often competing tasks with a strong eye for detail
• Willing and excited to adapt changing circumstances as Babyzone grows and develops

A great team member

• Collaborative in ways of working with others
• Value and support everyone who comes into contact with Babyzone

The ideal candidate will have:

• An ability to relate to people and families from all backgrounds
• Experience of working in the early years and/or charity sector at a local level
• Great experience of building partnerships and stakeholder relationships
• Significant experience of managing teams to deliver specific outcomes
• Microsoft Office 365 skills (Outlook, Excel, Word, Powerpoint)
• Excellent communication skills (both oral and written) at all levels
• Project management skills
• Line management experience, specifically of working through a staff team to deliver results
• Effective people management and coaching skills
• Based in Barnet or in a neighbouring borough (we find it makes the job easier!)

Desirable but not essential

• A track record of working with external funders
• Experience of managing and budgets

What we offer

• £28-35k per annum (pro-rata), depending on experience.
• Term-time only contract.
• Flexible hours over 2 days per week, one day must be worked on Thursdays in term time from 08:00-15:00 for Babyzone delivery.
• Expected to come into our registered office at Scale Space in White City, or the Youth Zone where Babyzone is delivered.

Benefits:

• We will match pension contributions for those eligible.
• 33 days annual leave including bank holidays (pro-rated to reflect contracted hours).

The application process

Babyzone is currently delivered in two areas of London which have high rates of poverty and diversity. Our ambition to grow means that we will increasingly work in other areas of the country that also have high rates of poverty and diversity. As a result Babyzone want to begin our journey as a charity from a position where our team fully reflects the diversity and lived experiences of the communities within which we work. We strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups.

We are focused on making our Babyzone's a welcoming, fully accessible, safe and inclusive place for all families to come. Babyzone won’t take a different approach to how we recruit for and treat our staff.

We will review applications and there will be a multiple stage interview process which includes a combination of interviews with team members and trustees and a role specific task.