Animal Care & Land-Based Studies Technician
Mary Hare School
West Berkshire
- £22,537.50 - £23,739.50 per year
- Expired
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Apply by:
- 15 April 2024
Job overview
Hours: Full-Time: 37 hours per week (all year round). Flexibility across term-time and school holidays, weekends and evenings is required.
Responsible to: Head of Technical Services
General
At Mary Hare we deliver a range of vocational qualifications to students of mixed ability.
Animal Management and Land-Based Studies resources include a garden area, mixed woodland and a collection of small animals including chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, tortoises, geckos, and dogs. We regularly visit a local school farm to work with their livestock. The position requires a flexible person who, in addition to the technician duties, we hope will help to deliver lessons to small groups of students and support the teaching staff in the work that they do.
The Role:
An element of this role will be helping us to develop and expand our animal collection in conjunction with animal welfare requirements. You will be responsible for the high standard of welfare in our animals and their primary carer for the during the school holidays and some weekends. This involves feeding and watering animals, checking their health, and maintaining and rotating accommodation. The post will include some weekend and school holiday work to help to provide 365-day care for the animals.
We currently deliver qualifications in Level 1 Land-Based Studies and BTEC (Level 2-3) in Animal Care and Animal Management. You will also be the technician for our land-based studies and horticulture work, some of which takes place in the woodland. We therefore hope the appointed person will have an interest in ecology, horticulture/arboriculture and will be willing to work with our environmental group. Work for the woodland may include overseeing the resourcing, tools, equipment, and lesson preparation and supporting the development of the woodland for lessons and other uses.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
- Responsible for monitoring the animal welfare and ensuring all animal husbandry standards are maintained at an optimum.
- Keep abreast of changes in government policy specifically around the animal husbandry and welfare.
- To advise the organisation of imminent threats and mitigating actions that need to be implemented and then to put them in place.
- Maintaining animal enclosures/housing and provide reports and plans where there is to be an unplanned expenditure or when external companies are needed for work to be completed.
- Help to support and maintain the links and communication with the Snelsmore Common committee
- Develop and maintain good relationships with other providers to maintain up to date knowledge of animal husbandry practice.
- Produce and implement handling schedules and habituation plans for animals.
- Ensure good standards of record keeping (i.e. weights / health checks / import and export paperwork / feeding logs / risk assessments), writing process and policy paperwork where necessary.
- Develop and guide future development of provision.
- Use course specifications to build animal collection, importing and exporting animals as appropriate.
- Stock taking, ordering and management of stores of animal and plant resources.
- To work with and give instruction to small groups of students on practical outdoor tasks with animals, horticulture and in the woodland.
- Support lessons through the preparation of resources. To attend relevant meetings, open days and parent consultations, including the May Bank holiday.
Person Specification
Education Attainment
- English and Maths (Grade C/4)
Professional Qualifications (Desirable)
- Degree level in a Science or an animal related subject
- Qualifications or interest in Ecology, arboriculture, and horticulture
- Level 3 TAQA (Assessor) qualification, or willingness to work toward
- Level 4 IQA qualification, or willingness to work toward
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
Desirable
- Animal knowledge and experience
- To be up-to-date and have a full understanding of animal welfare legislation.
- Passion for working with animals and young people.
- Confident communicator with the ability to build and maintain excellent working relationships with colleagues, students, and internal/external stakeholders.
- To have experience of working with animals in a professional capacity.
- Awareness of Safeguarding requirements and good practice within an education setting
- Experience of teaching and/or instructing/presenting
- An interest and knowledge of horticultural, arboriculture and ecology.
Skills and Personal Qualities
- Love of outdoors
- Availability to work during term-time and school holidays
- Excellent communication skills to enable effective dialogue with colleagues, staff, visitors and where applicable, students.
- Organised and self-motivated, with a proven record for meeting targets and deadlines
- Able to perform well and remain professional whilst under pressure
- Dedicated team-player, who strives for excellence and leads by example
- Tactful and discreet, whilst mindful of observing safeguarding and professional standards
- Reliable
- Displays a positive mindset
- Enthusiastic, with an eagerness to learn new skills and a commitment to personal continuous development.
- Adaptable and flexible with working patterns when required.
- Committed to contributing toward to School community.
- Willingness to accompany and support students on educational visits
- Reasonable physical fitness
Essential Values, Behaviours and Attitudes
All employees are expected to actively promote and demonstrate the six core values of the School:
- Learners First
- Community is Key
- Integrity & Respect
- Empower & Energise Others
- Being Accountable
- Excellence
Benefits:
As well as an inclusive and supportive work environment, and a stunning location benefits also include:
Generous pension scheme, subsidised canteen, free on-site parking, 24/7 Employee Assistance Program for employee's and household members and much more…
Please note that Mary Hare adheres to Safer Recruitment Standards and as such all applications must be made via the Mary Hare website and using the Mary Hare Application Form. Applications will only be considered via a completed Application Form; CV's cannot be accepted.
Mary Hare | Arlington Manor | Snelsmore Common | Newbury | Berkshire | RG14 3BQ
This School is committed to safeguarding children and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment. All shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a criminal records self-disclosure form and successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks. We are committed to securing genuine equality of opportunity in all aspects of our activities as an employer and education provider. The role you are applying for is ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
Attached documents
About Mary Hare School
- Mary Hare School
- Arlington Manor, Snelsmore Common, Newbury
- Berkshire
- RG14 3BQ
- United Kingdom
Our vision
That all deaf children should receive the education and support which will enable them to achieve their full potential at home, school and in their subsequent careers
Objectives
- Achieve the highest possible standards of educating deaf children, from early learning to tertiary education
- Be a major influence of national policy, practice and guidance in relation to deaf children and their education
- Enable families to achieve their vision and aspirations for their deaf child
- Support deaf children and young people in their emotional and social well-being
- Be recognised as a key provider of the highest quality training for all practitioners working with deaf children and young people
- Provide consultancy, advisory support, assessment and technical services that support the vision
Our history
Towards the end of the 19th Century, a number of prominent women were beginning to influence events in ways which were to have a profound effect on developments in 20th Century society. One such woman was the educationalist Miss Mary Hare. Her vision was that deaf children were capable of realising the full potential of their intellect and that they had no need of shelter from the rigours of hearing society in the growing number of asylums for the deaf and dumb. Such shelter served only to deny them opportunities and fundamental rights. She set about overturning the short-sighted view that the deaf child's prime needs were for care and protection, by establishing a small school in London in 1883. By 1916 this centre of learning had blossomed into the Dene Hollow Oral School for the Deaf based in Sussex and widely regarded as one of the best schools for deaf children in the Kingdom. During these twenty or so years of growth and development, Mary Hare had been able to show that her vision was not only justified and realistic, but achievable.
It was to honour the great contribution that this pioneer had made to the education of deaf children, that shortly after her death in 1945, Dene Hollow School was redesignated as the National Grammar School for the Deaf. Bearing her name, The Mary Hare Grammar School came to serve the needs of potentially able severely and profoundly deaf children throughout the United Kingdom. The rapid growth that this change brought necessitated a move to larger premises, and in 1948 the school acquired and occupied its present beautiful site close to Newbury in Berkshire. It is our hope that half a century after Mary Hare's death, the achievements of our pupils today still serve to honour her name and her vision.
Local information and facilities
Newbury is a market town located in West Berkshire in England in the UK with good bus, rail and road links and is located 50 miles south west of London. There are a wide selection of hotels in Newbury offering good hotel accommodation and bed and breakfast accommodation for visitors in and around Newbury. The Kennet and Avon Canal disects the town which has many historical buildings and places of interest including the Corn Exchange Theatre and the Museum by the Canal. The Newbury Racecourse is within 1 mile of the town centre and nearby are Highclere Castle, Donnington Castle, Snelsmore Countryside Park, the Ridgeway, the Downs and a host of other attractions.
School Information
Mary Hare School is the largest school for profoundly and severely deaf children in the UK. Mary Hare teaches using an auditory oral approach, so that children learn though spoken and written English – no sign language is used in teaching. The school has maintained a high standard, with over 85% of pupils gaining 5 or more GCSEs for the last 5 years and 95 % pass rate at A level. Nearly all leavers go on to further education.
The school is part of a large national charity and benefits from the additional activities of the Mary Hare Charity. An active fundraising department and various trading activities generate funds to support the development of the school. The Training Division provides opportunities for teachers to attend national and international conferences organised on site. The Training Division also offers post-graduate courses including the mandatory qualification for Teachers of the Deaf and the MSc in Educational Audiology and MA in Special Education (Hearing Impairment).
Mary Hare also has an Arts Centre on site, which houses the school’s music and performing arts department, but also offers a programme of arts events including music, theatre dance and comedy.
For further information please visit our website: www.maryhare.org.uk
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