UP Unlocking Potential

Chief ExecutiveCANDIDATE INFORMATION PACK

SEPTEMBER 2019

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 2

3 Letter from the Chair

4 About us

5 What we do

6 Our Team

7 The Role

8 Person Specification

9 How to apply

Timetable

Contents

When I saw what Unlocking Potential was doing, I thought that

it was an amazing thing. Why not try to be a part of

something amazing as well?

My overall experience of the Unlocking Potential programme

has been amazing. If I had not done this, I would still be lost.

Having been on the Unlocking Potential programme, my experience of learning is

different now.

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 3

Dear Candidate

I am so pleased that you are interested in Unlocking Potential and our Chief Executive opportunity.

This is a really exciting time for Unlocking Potential. Three years ago, Unlocking Potential was founded by 5 funder-board members with a shared strong vision and passion to help children and young people who are facing barriers to reroute their lives and unlock their potential. This is the overriding objective of our charity and to achieve it we have hired staff, developed our programmes and implemented a corporate infrastructure.

I am proud of our programmes and I believe that they give the children and young people with whom we work the confidence to realise their potential. Through our Young Adults Programme, we are helping 18-24 year olds to enhance their well-being and find and sustain employment through a range of personalised programmes. We deliver therapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy in schools to 4-11 year olds who need it via our Schools Programme and at the Corner School, we teach, nurture and support primary age school children with emotional and behavioural difficulties through tailored education and therapy. Another key part of the School’s work is to provide support and guidance to the children’s parents which is an important part of our holistic approach.

We are financially strong, have an engaged Board of Trustees and we are looking for an ambitious and passionate Chief Executive who shares our vision to lead our staff and develop the programmes so that they are as excellent and effective as possible. I think this is a truly outstanding opportunity for someone who shares our values and wants to make a lasting impact on disadvantaged children and young people in this country.

I do hope that you will feel moved to apply. I look forward to receiving your application.

Very best,

Stuart Roden

Chair

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 3

Letter from the Chair

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 4

About us

Unlocking Potential was created in 2015 with a mission to work within London communities to transform the life chances of children and young people who have social, emotional and mental health needs.

To put children and young people at the heart of everything we do.

To give children and young people hope and to help them build the self-belief to become healthy, functioning and engaged members of their communities and wider society.

To enable children and young people to move from a position of dependence to achieving autonomy in their lives.

To enable young people to sustain employment.

Our Objectives

A nurturing environment

We deliver programmes of personalised support which place the child or young person at the centre of their progress.

We demonstrate humility and empathy for communities and families, understanding that needs and barriers can be complex and require multiple interventions over an extended period of time.

Transformational practice

We have extremely high expectations for all members of our communities and believe that it is possible to support all children and young people to make progress.

We develop high quality approaches which have a profound impact on wellbeing, learning and life chances.

We are committed to working with communities over an extended period of time to ensure that we can achieve our ambitious goals for the young people we work with.

Collective impact

We recognise that no single organisation or approach can tackle the complex social issues facing our society and that we must work with partners to align our efforts around shared objectives.

We work in collaboration and share a common agenda with communities, families, schools, local authorities, citizens and other charities to achieve significant and sustainable social change.

We work with our partners to gather and measure data consistently, to ensure that our impact is transformational, sustainable and value for money.

Our Values

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 4

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 5

The Corner SchoolOur school delivers exceptional multi-disciplinary education and therapeutic support to children who have social, emotional and mental health needs. We work in close partnership with parents and families, to develop personalised, dynamic support for every child in our school community. Our model involves a commitment from parents to participate regularly in the personalised family curriculum which is agreed for each child.

The Schools ProgrammeThe Schools Programme is a school based therapeutic service across London that benefits the whole school community by being available to all children and, where helpful, to parents/carers and staff. It offers consistent, comprehensive and high-quality support to children who are affected by emotional or behavioural difficulties. We have a multi-disciplinary team, including Psychotherapists and Creative Arts Therapists, Occupational and Speech and Language therapists, who provide flexible, timely and targeted interventions to improve emotional wellbeing and help children to thrive.

Young Adults ProgrammeWe provide opportunities for young adults who are not in education, employment or training to enter the workplace and become productive, independent and self-sustaining adults.

Personalised Learning

Personalised learning is key for young people to

gain the skills they need to be successful. Each young person that we work with

is assigned a personal learning plan that is tailored to his or her specific needs,

taking their academic, social, and emotional life

into account.

Work Readiness

Gainful employment is a major part of developing

independence. Our approach helps young

people to develop the soft skills that employers are

looking for which includes teamwork, meeting

deadlines and presentation skills.

Wellbeing

We believe that wellbeing is a necessity, not a

luxury. Our diverse team of therapeutic support

workers support the wellbeing of our children

and young people through therapy, key working, and social-emotional learning.

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 5

What we do

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Transformation within the CommunityWe work with and empower members of target communities to ensure that life chances for children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs can be transformed from within. Our approach focuses on developing our work at a local level, by focusing on a target community. We have identified Brent to pilot our community-based model. Our goal is to become deeply embedded in this community and to create a series of models which can be scaled and replicated elsewhere.

BRENT

Our Team

Our Trustees

Head of Young Adults Programme

Head Teacher The Corner

School

Director of School's

Programme

Safeguarding Manager

CEO

HR Manager Research & Evaluations Officer

Finance Director Clinical Strategy Lead

Stuart Roden Chair

Brian Linden Vice Chair

William de Winton Treasurer

Jonathan Clark Safeguarding

Thomas Bible

Jan Tallis

Simon Morris

Tatiana Amory

Chiku Bernardi

Emily Meeyoung Sun

What we do continued

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 7

• Provide inspirational leadership and direction and set and imbed a highperforming culture

• With the Board and staff develop and deliver an organisation that transformsthe lives of vulnerable children and young people through the design,development and provision of excellent, personalised programmes that aresustainable

• Lead and manage all external relations activity, building Unlocking Potential’svoice, reputation and profile

• Develop and grow income generation capacity, proactively seeking to broadenthe funding base

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy and resources

• Work with the Board to develop UnlockingPotential’s strategic plan, business plans, budgetsand performance targets

• Be responsible to the Board for UnlockingPotential’s overall financial and organisationalhealth, ensuring that income is maximized andexpenditure is controlled in line with budgets.

• Ensure long term sustainability by developingincome from a blend of major donors, trusts/foundations, events and corporate partnerships

Service delivery and development

• Ultimately responsible for ensuring that allprogrammes are developed, delivered andmarketed in accordance with the needs of childrenand young people

• Ensure that we offer excellent, personalised andsustainable programmes to achieve our mission

• Lead on the evaluations strategy to demonstrateprogramme effectiveness in delivering agreedoutcomes

• Ensure that safeguarding remains at the centre ofeverything we do

Job title:

Reports to:

Direct reports:

Location:

Salary:

Chief Executive

Board of Trustees, through the Chair

Currently the Chief Executive has x8 Director-level reports

London - Elephant & Castle / Brent

c.£90,000 per annum

OVERALL PURPOSE:

The Role

Leadership and management

• Provide excellent leadership to Unlocking Potential,ensuring all staff and volunteers are inspired,motivated, valued and are performing to their fullpotential

• Lead, develop and empower the Senior LeadershipTeam

• Ensure that Unlocking Potential has in placeeffective policies and procedures in places that meetthe relevant legislative requirements and agreedquality standards

Governance

• Work with the Chair of the Board to ensure highstandards of governance and that the Board fulfilsconstitutional and legislative requirements

• Provide appropriate and accurate managementinformation and other guidance to the Board ofTrustees to ensure they have a clear and accurateunderstanding of the health and performance of theorganisation and are able to take informed decisions

• Support the Chair in ensuring the continuedengagement and developmentof all Trustees

• As appropriate, monitor and advise on thecomposition of the Board, its committees and theprocess of self-assessment and development

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

External relations

• Ensure strong and positive relationships withkey external stakeholders to ensure that theorganisation builds a reputation for excellence andthat opportunities are maximised

• Clearly articulate the value and impact of UnlockingPotential to a diverse range of audiences, partners,collaborators and stakeholders

The Role continued

• Represent the interests of Unlocking Potentialexternally, developing the charity’s brand andprofile

• Use evidence-based outcomes to effectivelyinfluence

Person Specification

• Proven track record as a visionary strategic leader, ideally with experience of working with vulnerable children and young people

• Implementing plans whilst managing a wide range of shorter term operational demands

• Successfully leading staff and volunteers through periods of significant organisational development

• Building success through partnerships, influence and diplomacy

• Developing and maintaining relationships with a diverse range of clients, stakeholders and partners including other charities, businesses and funders

• Supporting a Board of trustees and effectively engaging the skills and experience of trustees in the development of strategy

• Growing income from a range of sources to support the Fundraising Manager

• Identifying and securing new income streams to enable strategic growth

• Experience of safeguarding for children and young people, to support the Safeguarding Manager

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Knowledge of the governance, constitutional andlegal requirements of a charity and company limitedby guarantee

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• The ability to drive a ‘best in class’ culture andsustain a positive working environment with highmorale

• Ability to monitor performance across a range offunctions

• Ability to negotiate with, influence and developrelationships with a wide range of diversestakeholders

• Ability to process a large quantity of informationand to communicate effectively with trustees, staffand other stakeholders

• A good understanding of and commitment toequality and diversity across all areas of work

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND ATTITUDES

• Passion and enthusiasm for transforming the livesof vulnerable children and young people

• Committed to excellence

• Open, transparent, honest

• Resilience and tenacity

• Inspiring and highly professional

• Excellent public speaker able to be an effectiveambassador

UP Unlocking Potential | Chief Executive | Candidate Pack 9

Closing date for applications:

Preliminary interviews with Russam GMS:

1st Stage Final interviews: UP Unlocking Potential (London):

2nd Stage Final interviews: UP Unlocking Potential (London):

Monday 30th September 2019

Week commencing 7th October 2019

21st and 22nd October 2019

Week commencing 4th November 2019

To apply for this position please provide the following two pieces of information:

• A comprehensive CV, including details of your achievements in each role and detailsof two referees.

• A supporting statement, explaining how you believe your skills and experience matchthe requirements of the role, directly addressing the criteria as outlined in the personspecification.

Applications should be submitted at the following website page: Application Link

For an informal and confidential discussion about the role, please contact:

Melissa Baxter - Director of Executive Search: 07789 985229 melissa.baxter@russam-gms.co.uk

Marsha Isilar-Gosling - Executive Search Consultant: 07818 509690 marsha.gosling@russam-gms.co.uk

Timetable

How to apply