Role Profile – Sessional Youth Worker – Training Kitchen

Job title

Sessional Youth Worker –
Training Kitchen

Salary:

£13.15 per hour. Saturday
evening premium is £15.12
per hour

Reporting to:

Location:

Junior Club Manager

Unitas Youth Zone, 76
Montrose Avenue, London,
HA8 0DT

Holidays:

33 days including bank
holidays (pro-rata)

Hours:

Up to 12 hours per week.
Evenings and weekends

The Person:

Do you want to use your creative culinary talents to make the lives of young
people better?  We are looking for someone who is as passionate about food
and healthy living as they are about growing and developing young
people.  Are you vibrant, creative, and committed to supporting young
people and nurturing talent and do you have a range of cooking skills to offer
young people? Are you committed to your own personal growth and
development with a clear growth mindset? If so, then this may be the role for
you

Key
Relationships:

Delivery team, Youth Work managers, Unicafé team, External Stakeholders,
Young People and Parents

Job Purpose:
Unitas has a fantastic training kitchen whose purpose is to provide a way for young people to learn
cooking in an informal, fun and engaging way.  As a member of the Training Kitchen team, you will
be part of group of youth workers who specialise in cooking, and you will be key in ensuring young
people have access to an exciting and diverse programme of cooking that will be challenging,
stimulating, fun, engaging and developmental.

You will be involved in session delivery, planning, preparation, and work with young people closely.
You will be provided all the necessary equipment and training and will be afforded plentiful personal
development opportunities. You will be someone with a clear ‘can do’ approach, committed to a
growth mindset, eager to learn and willing to take risks, all for the benefit of supporting young
people. You will demonstrate our Values through all you do and commit to always giving your best
for young people.

Context of the post:
Barnet Youth Zone, named “Unitas” by local young people, was the second Youth Zone in London
opened by the national charity, OnSide, in the summer of 2019. Unitas, like all OnSide Youth Zones,
exists to give young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged, somewhere to go, something
to do and someone to talk to. Each Youth Zone is open 5-7 days a week, all year round, with the
purpose of supporting young people to become happy, healthy, and successful adults.

Unitas Youth Zone is centrally located, dedicated to young people, and makes a bold statement
about the importance of giving young people high quality places to go in their leisure time.  Open 6
days a week including school holidays, the Youth Zone’s vision is to unite young people to fulfil their
full potential.  The state-of-the-art £6.5 million building provides young people with access to a

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range of activities, all offering young people the opportunity to try new things, meet new friends and
gain new experiences.

Duties and Responsibilities - General

Take personal responsibility for own actions
Commit to a culture of continuous improvement

  Be a role model for young people and present a positive “can do” attitude
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  Work within the performance framework of Unitas Youth Zone and OnSide
  Represent Unitas Youth Zone positively and effectively in all dealings with internal colleagues, and external

partners
Comply with all policies and procedures, with reference to safeguarding, codes of conduct, health and safety
and equality and diversity to ensure all activities are accessible
To be alert to issues of safeguarding and child protection, ensuring the welfare and safety of Youth Zone
members  is  promoted  and  safeguarded,  and  to  report  any  child  protection  concerns  to  the  Designated
Safeguarding Leads using the safeguarding policies, procedures, and practice (training to be provided)
To assist with any promotional activities and visits that take place at the Youth Zone
To actively promote the Youth Zone and positively contribute towards increasing Youth Zone membership
To always adhere to Unitas Youth Zone policies, with reference to Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Equal
Opportunities
To be willing to step in and step up, and not see the below set of duties and responsibilities as exhaustive

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Duties and Responsibilities – Detailed

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To work face-to-face with young people on session in the evenings/at the weekend (depending on your
shift pattern)
To support planning and reviews when necessary
To work directly with young people to develop their cooking skills
To plan a varied set of cooking activities to teach to young people, including providing your manager with a
list of ingredients to purchase in good time before your sessions
To work with young people along the whole spectrum of competence at cooking – those just giving it a go
all the way to those seriously considering them as a career
To ensure that recipes also cater for a wide range of dietary requirements and tastes
To be committed to monitoring and evaluation of the activities that you are running so the Youth Zone can
measure the impact of our work
To  directly  deliver  a  high-quality  programme  of  activity  that  is  exciting,  safe,  varied,  innovative,
developmental, and directly responds to the diverse needs, concerns, and interests of the members
To collaborate with other youth workers on session to produce cross-departmental projects (eg with the
multimedia department to create vlogs of young people cooking)
To have great energy and establish positive relationships with young people, the wider youth work team,
and visitors to the Youth Zone
To be comfortable in other spaces in the Youth Zone such as the recreation area and on the welcoming
team, so you can contribute flexibly as per the needs of the young people and the session
To respond to the needs of young people through activities in the training kitchen
To support and motivate volunteers working in the training kitchen
To work flexibly to ensure the needs of the members are met, including disadvantaged young people and
those with disabilities or additional needs
To ensure that the members maintain a high standard of behaviour and discipline during sessions by making
the training kitchen a hub of activity and fun, but also control and calm
To ensure the participation of young people in activities and ensure that their ideas contribute fully in the
delivery of activities in a safe way

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To pay particular attention to food hygiene and health and safety
To assist with any promotional activities and visits that take place at the Youth Zone
To actively promote the Youth Zone and positively contribute towards increasing Youth Zone membership
To always promote and safeguard the welfare of young people
To enthuse others, including staff, volunteers, and young people, making the environment fun and the place
young people want to see
To be an active member of the team and operate in line with the values and principles of Unitas Youth Zone
To carry out any other reasonable duties as requested by management

Essential or
Desirable

Essential

Essential

Essential

Essential
Desirable
Desirable
Desirable

Person Specification
Selection Criteria*
A = Application Form   I = Interview   T = Test/Personality
Profile
Experience
Face to face activity delivery, working with young people both
in groups and individually
Experience of delivering a range of Cooking activities to young
people
Experience of supporting young people who are disaffected,
underachieving and / or have social / emotional barriers to
participation
Experience of working in a team and alongside volunteers
Organising a programme of youth work activities
Experience of working with challenging young people
Experience of working with young people with additional
needs and disabilities
Qualifications
Level 2 Food Hygiene
Skills
Ability to deliver a high-quality cooking programme with
young people who face social exclusion, disadvantage and
disaffection and manage such a group
Ability to develop good professional relationships with young
people and adults
Ability to work with young people to enable the development
of their social education by providing activity programmes,
services and facilities that are fun
Ability to be enthused by young people and others
Ability to coach, encourage, motivate, and provide reliable
support to young people
Ability to dynamic risk access
Desirable
Ability to plan and liaise with other professional organisations   Desirable
Knowledge
Understanding of issues affecting young people’s lives
Knowledge of health and safety, diversity awareness and
safeguarding best practice
Basic knowledge of cooking pathways

Essential
Desirable

Essential
Essential

Essential

Essential

Essential

Essential

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Special Requirements
A willingness to work unsociable hours
Enhanced DBS clearance. Commitment to Safeguarding children
The ability and willingness to travel to other spaces and community
settings within the borough and beyond

Essential
Essential
Essential

Unitas Youth Zone are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young
people, and vulnerable groups. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check. The strength of the
OnSide Network of Youth Zone is the diversity of its people, we place huge value on different people
doing things in different ways and we welcome applications from what might be considered non-
traditional backgrounds. The one thing we all have in common is our desire to raise the aspirations
of young people across the country. We are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be
considered  for  employment  without  attention  to  race,  colour,  religion,  sex,  sexual  orientation,
gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

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