Do you love the outdoors & volunteering with children? Join our Children and Young People team to support the planning, preparation & delivery of outdoor education activities for children & young people. Toast marshmallows, find geocaches, hunt for bugs, make natural art & inspire future generations to love and protect nature and benefit from its riches.

By getting involved, you could…

• Have an amazing, active and immersive experience volunteering (and possibly living) at a beautiful 750-acre Georgian woodland garden landscape.
• Meet and make friends with people who are passionate about nature, heritage and wellbeing and work or volunteer alongside each other in our inclusive, welcoming Gibside family.
• Gain valuable experience of volunteering with people of all ages and backgrounds in a beautiful outdoor setting.
• Become an important part of a well-known and valued national charity organisation in the heritage sector.
• Have access to relevant internal and external training opportunities.
• Develop bush craft skills and knowledge of wildlife while gaining experience of supporting children, young people and other volunteers in environmental education and visitor engagement.
• Gain admin experience when assisting with group bookings.
• Be part of an experienced and skilled team who will train you to become confident to support the planning, scheduling and delivering educational activities to school groups.
• Develop your communication skills through all interactions with groups and individuals as well as learning to be adaptable and flexible to customer needs.
• Share your skills, experience, knowledge and enthusiasm with others visiting Gibside.
• Have access to facilities and possibly accommodation that may be available during your volunteering placement period.

What’s involved?

• You will be part of the Children and Young People Team supporting the development and delivery of activities for schools, create resources and build up your own transferable skills.
• Volunteer for up to 30 hours a week for up to 12 months- we are flexible to suit your needs.
• In this opportunity you could assist with the delivery of educational activities which include habitats, local history, team building, literacy, art & bushcraft themes. Activities are delivered outdoors all year round.
• During the year there may be opportunities to work with the team to develop and plan activities, from the team from the initial planning and risk assessment stage, to trialling activities then evaluating them and promoting them as part of a new offer.
• You will have the opportunity to help with daily admin tasks such as managing the bookings and feedback forms and replying to emails/ taking phone calls.
• There will be opportunities to volunteer with other teams at Gibside to help deliver a wide range of visitor engagement opportunities and events.
• During the year we will support you to develop a project at Gibside. This will be focused on exploring new ways for Gibside to engage with young people aged 16- 25 and give the space for their voices to be heard and give you a valuable experience, which will also enhance your C.V.  The project will give you the opportunity to be creative and we will support you to bring your ideas into fruition. Some ideas about what this project could be: creating interactive online resources for young people, co-creating a youth forum and setting up a project within that, looking at ways to promote the National Trust and Gibside to become a more welcoming and appealing place for 16-25 year olds.

• You will be an ambassador for nature and heritage sites and will aim to promote how to protect wildlife and history for ever, for everyone.
• We’ll help you get to know Gibside, how you can help in your volunteer opportunity and how you will liaise with wider teams. This will include an induction and training-including safeguarding and first aid at work.
• We provide relevant equipment for you to be safe and feel confident in your role.
• Before starting we will need to carry out a DBS check and obtain a reference.
• We’ll cover agreed expenses, in line with the National Trust Expenses Policy, for your travel between home and Gibside. There is also the possible option of living in accommodation onsite, which we can discuss in the interview stage.

An example of a typical day during term time at Gibside:

Preparing resources for the visit before meeting the school and welcoming them to Gibside. Guiding the school to the location of their activity- such as the West Woods- and helping them toast marshmallows and build dens. The group then break for lunch before completing a second activity such as searching for wildlife in the Lily Pond or Ice-House Dene woods. We finish the day by waving the groups off as they depart and thanking them for visiting. After this we enjoy a nice well-earned cup of tea! Next step is to plan for the next day and other upcoming group visits, preparing resources, colleting firewood and catching up with admin in the office.

This role will suit you if you are …

• A person who enjoys volunteering with children and young people and are looking to develop your own skills and experience in the environment and heritage sector, in order to enhance your CV.
• A person who enjoys talking to people, likes getting stuck in and being part of a team to provide positive experiences for others.
• Wanting to grow your confidence in communication.
• Enthusiastic about creating meaningful experiences for young people.
• Interested in learning more about ecology and how to protect and promote local wildlife and history.
• An enthusiastic team player.
• Keen to learn new skills.
• Looking for an immersive experience of the National Trust or the heritage sector.
• Interested in understanding how we care for our places at National Trust over time.
• Interested in volunteering for up to 12 months

Gibside is one of the National Trust's Children and Young people hubs. We are passionate about creating employment pathway opportunities for young people. This opportunity would be a great way to gain the skills to support a future career working with children, volunteers, events, nature, ecology, heritage sites, charities, people and business in general.

Find out more

Contact Sarah Given and Elizabeth Jenner, Senior Programming and Partnerships Officers for Children and Young People via telephone 01207 541204 or email [email protected].

Extra Information

Your place

Gibside

Accommodation

Accommodation may be available and will be discussed at interview. This would be in the Stables in the middle of the Gibside estate, with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities with potentially one other housemate, but with the privacy of your own bedroom.

Time commitment

We are looking for a volunteer who can volunteer up to 30 hours a week. On occasion we may ask for your support on some evenings and weekends.

Volunteer Managers

Sarah Given & Elizabeth Jenner, Senior Programming and Partnerships Officers for Children and Young People

Tel: 01207 541204 Email: [email protected]

What you need to wear/ bring

We will provide some National Trust branded clothing including a waterproof coat. Bring your own casual outdoor clothing for all weathers, recommend waterproof shoes, long comfortable outdoor trousers etc.

Training/Resources

Relevant training opportunities will be made available specific to this opportunity. This includes Safeguarding, developing & delivering outdoor activities, Bushcraft, wildlife identification and First Aid.

Expenses

Expenses will be reimbursed in line with our expenses policy.

Other

Full UK, driving licence would be beneficial but is not essential.

A DBS is required- National Trust will carry this out on your behalf.

Right to work – This opportunity is only open to individuals who can prove their right to work in the work throughout the duration of their volunteering. National Trust does not as this time sponsor people outside of the UK that require a sponsor to volunteer and work in the UK.