About Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust

Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust is a charity creating life-changing, education-focused children’s homes to ensure that children in care have the same opportunities as everyone else. We believe that children growing up in residential care should go on to achieve great things and lead fulfilling lives. We believe that social pedagogy, a focus on education, people and place is the best approach to supporting young people.

The Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust team is driven by a shared commitment to creating empowering places where everyone has the opportunity to grow and learn. We follow our key values of Respect, Play, Difference, Empowerment, Curiosity and Excellence.

In February 2022 we opened our first children's home in Sutton, which can support up to six 12-18 year olds. It is an award-winning state-of-the-art building and sets a new standard for children's homes in the UK. You can read more about the home here and see a virtual tour of the building here. 

We are recruiting an Office Manager to provide high quality and efficient administration and business support to contribute to Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust’s overall aim to improve outcomes for children.

Difference is one of our core values, and we strive to take the broadest possible view of diversity. We value people from all backgrounds – by this we mean ethnicity, gender, age, and any other visible or invisible quality that makes you unique. We welcome that every person brings their own perspective and experience to our children’s homes, to contribute to our vision.

Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust is a charity that sits within the Catch22 group of organisations, running independently on a day-to-day basis.

Your role

As the Office Manager, you will make a significant contribution to the smooth running of the organisation, both within our children’s home and in our core operations. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Office Manager to support the growth of a new children’s home from its early stages. You will be based in the office in our children’s home.

The purpose of the role is to ensure the safe and efficient running of our children’s home and the wider organisation, with key responsibilities including:

• Administrative support for the children’s home – Run the office, including maintaining accurate records for the home, maintenance of IT systems and training staff on IT systems
• Children’s home maintenance – Carry out day-to-day management of the building and grounds, including ordering supplies and taking responsibility for health and safety in the home
• Finances and reporting - Assist with the financial management of our home and organisation, including expenses and petty cash
• Administrative support for the organisation – Ensure smooth running of our organisation through supporting with diary management, booking meeting rooms and managing our website enquiries mailbox
• Board & Committee governance: Plan and coordinate Committee and Sub-Committee meetings, including ensuring papers are circulated in advance, attending meetings and producing timely and effective minutes/actions
• Staff and professional development – Maintain staff records such as rotas, timesheets, and training records and assist with the recruitment and induction of new staff
• Working with families, professionals and the community - Work closely with a range of stakeholders, including staff, young people, families and carers, schools, health services, police and other external agencies. You will build relationships with these people who come into contact with the home and be part of creating a welcoming environment
• Additional opportunities to contribute to our organisation  - As a small organisation, there will be lots of opportunities for you to get involved in other areas depending on your interests and skills, for example, this could be managing our social media, getting involved in our work with funders or researching what is going on in the wider sector.

Please click here to view the full job description and person specification.

About you

This role will suit someone who enjoys working closely with the Registered Manager and team in the home, while also being autonomous and able to work independently. You will be good at proactively anticipating issues that may arise and enjoy problem-solving to overcome these issues. We are looking for someone who likes to work at pace and relishes getting things running smoothly and efficiently.

You will need to have experience working in an administrative role and be capable of planning and prioritising your workload. You will need to be able to work confidently with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc).

You will be working from our children’s home, so you will need to be comfortable working in this environment. This will require flexibility and patience. If you have worked in a children’s home or similar environment before that would be great, but it is not essential. You will need to be well organised, with strong written and verbal communication.

We believe it is important that our home has a family feel and that we create an inclusive culture, and we expect all our staff to play a key role in this.

Please click here to view the full job description and person specification.

Safer Recruitment 

At Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust we are committed to safeguarding all children and young people in our care. As part of our recruitment process, we conduct rigorous checks and vetting of all applicants in line with legal and regulatory requirements, and best practices. 

Everyone who works in our homes will be responsible for safeguarding young people and putting their safety and wellbeing first.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (police records) check, including overseas police checks where necessary.  Please note that this post is exempt from the limitations of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, and as such all previous cautions and convictions will need to be disclosed as part of any application.  

For further information about the process please go to: https://www.gov.uk/dbs-check-applicant-criminal-record 

Application process

To apply, please provide a cover letter on no more than one side of A4 that outlines how you meet the essential experience outlined in the person specification and why you are interested in working for Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust. 

We will not be able to consider any applications that only provide a CV.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about the role, please email [email protected]. 

Interviews will be held on a rolling basis and we may appoint before the closing date for applications, so candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

See the benefits of working for Catch22 here.

Unless otherwise stated, interviews will be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, so early application is strongly advised.

At Catch22 we value equality, diversity and inclusion. We are wholeheartedly committed to the principle of equality of opportunity, both as an employer and as a provider of services. Diversity and Inclusion is part of what we do every day, working to deliver our vision to build a strong society where everyone has good people around them, a purpose, and a good place to live.