Surrey Docks Farm - March 2013
PLOT TO SHOP: TRAINER/ CO-ORDINATOR
Salary: £25,000 pro rata
18 hours / 3 days per week – ideally to include Friday and Saturday
JOB DESCRIPTION
‘Plot to Shop’ is a new, exciting Farm project offering adults with disabilities new progression paths
and the opportunity to train and take leading roles in:
- Setting up a large fruit and vegetable garden at the Farm
- Gardening, harvesting and processing the produce
- Setting up and running a Farm shop, selling the produce, keeping the accounts and recycling
the profits
The Trainer/Co-ordinator is a new post, responsible for leading and establishing the project.
Reporting to the Farm’s Manager and Horticultural Co-ordinator, the post will have the support of the
Farm’s staff team in delivering the project, which also includes staff co-ordinators for ‘Education &
Farm Produce’, ‘Community Projects & Volunteers’ and ‘Marketing & Project Administration’.
The principle responsibilities of the post are to:
1.
Get involved with the work of the Farm and preparations for the project
- and in particular become familiar with:
The current range of the Farm’s work with adults with disabilities and the current trainees
The outreach work being carried out with referral agencies, families and carers
The horticultural and ‘green’ areas of the Farm, its growing projects and the groups involved
The Farm Shop and the Voluneer Support Group being established for the project
The publicity and marketing material being produced to advertise for trainees.
2.
Recruitment, Selection, Assessment & Recording
- with support from the Farm’s ‘Horticultural’ and ‘Education & Farm Produce’ Co-ordinators:
- Establish an Advisory Group for the Project with representatives of referral agencies, to agree
a ‘light-touch’ but informative approach to assessing trainees’ progress, which can be used for
recording: (i) the skills,competencies and levels of disability of trainees at the outset and (ii)
their progress throughout the project.
- Annually recruit and select trainees for the two mixed ability groups of 6 who will form the core
of the project 2 days a week, together with identifying a further 12 potential trainees during the
year who are interested and will benefit from getting involved with the project.
- Establsih goals and individual learning plans with each trainee and ensure quarterly progress
assessments and recording.
- Support the personal development of trainees where appropriate through arranging additional
tutoring, mentoring, development of specific skills – e.g computer skills.
3.
Co-ordinate and support trainees in accomplishing tasks
- in liaison with the Farm’s ‘Horticultural’, ‘Education & Farm Produce’ and ‘Marketing’ Coordinators, together with the Volunteer Support Group - around the following tasks:
- Planting, growing and caring for a range of crops and fruit; cooking, processing and packaging
produce for sale; attending and learning from sessions on food hygiene and health & safety.
- Organising the lay-out of goods for sale in the shop, agreeing pricing, learning the till, counting
and handling cash and serving customers - with the support of volunteers from the Support
Group.
- Helping trainees to move on by the end of their year’s involvement to take active roles in e.g.
part-time volunteering, training or earning at the Farm or with other supportive agencies.
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4.
Recording & Marketing the Project & Making it Sustainable:
- with the support of the Farm’s ‘Co-ordinator: Marketing & Project Administration’:
- Establish a Focus Group - from selected adults with disabilities and their families and carers
and with agencies and commissioners working with them - to advise on how to make the most
of the Farm’s Unique Selling Points and how best to market them.
- With volunteers from the Support Group, record, photogaraph and film users at work and users’
feedback – and where possilbe and practical, involve trainees in doing the recording & filming in order to build up a bank of visual, sound and written promotional material.
- In spring each year, hold one travelling exhibition and 2 promotional days at the Farm.
- By the middle of Year 2 to have produced marketing and promotional packs – both hard copy
and for the web – to promote the project and attract interested trainees with individual budgets
for Year 3 and subsequent years and to interest charitable trusts to support adults with milder
learning disabilities but without individual budgets
5.
General
- To work within budget and to ensure income targets are achieved from Year 2 onwards.
- To provide written reports on a from time-to-time basis.
- Any other duties as may from time to time be reasonably required.
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Surrey Docks Farm - March 2013
PERSON SPECIFICATION
FROM PLOT TO SHOP: TRAINER/CO-ORDINATOR
(18 hours/3 days per week ideally to include Friday & Saturday)
Essential experience, qualifications, skills and abilities:
1.
An enthusiasm and commitment and at least a year’s experience of working with adults with
disabilities.
2.
A keen interest in gardening.
3.
A good analytic ability coupled with good listening skills, empathy and the ability to assess
individual’s skills and competencies.
4.
Experience and ability in supporting individuals to get active and involved, to develop their skills
and move themselves on.
5.
Commitment to and experience of working with volunteers.
6.
Good organisational skills, including practical knowledge of MS Office applications, being
systematic in planning, monitoring, recording and evaluating own work and writing reports.
7.
Experience and ability to work on own, take own initiatives and manage own workload.
8.
The interest and ability to contribute to the overall aims and work of the Farm.
Desirable experience, qualifications, skills and abilities:
1.
Experience of providing personalised support and training to adults with disabilities.
2.
Experience of recruiting, developing, training and supporting volunteers.
3.
Experience of drawing up learning plans with individuals and helping them to achieve their
goals and personal development.
4.
Previous work in horticulture/gardening.
5.
Experience of seeing projects through from start to finish and finding ways to sustain them.
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Surrey Docks Farm - March 2013
TERMS & CONDITIONS
FROM PLOT TO SHOP TRAINER/CO-ORDINATOR
(18 hours/3 days per week pro rata)
Salary:
£25,000 per annum pro rata for a 36 hour week
Hours:
18 hours per week over 3 regular days in the week (including Friday and Saturday), excluding lunch
breaks, with additional hours as required by the duties of the post.
Holidays:
20 days with pro rata entitlement in the first year which ends 31st March.
Probation:
There will be a probationary period of 3 months.
Notice Period:
During the probationary period notice will be 4 weeks from the employee to the Farm and 1 week from
the Farm to the employee. After successfully completing the probationary period and up to completion
of two years service, notice will be 4 weeks from the employee to the Farm and 4 weeks from the
Farm to the employee.
References & CRB:
Employment will not commence until the Farm is in receipt of two satisfactory employment references.
All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced CRB Disclosure which will be requested in the
event of the applicant being offered this position.
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