Tinkerer & Maker (Woodwork Teacher)

About Liberty Woodland School 

Liberty Woodland School is the sister school of London’s Little Forest Folk nurseries, an exciting and forward thinking organisation offering a new type of education for families in London. At Liberty Woodland School, we care for and educate children aged from 4 to 11, following a core curriculum created by us to focus on skills based competencies, incorporating learning in an outdoor environment where free play, fresh air, exposure to the natural world and physical activity are an integral part of learning.

Our aim is to address the increasing disconnect between children and nature, which we continue to achieve daily with 2-5 year olds in our five nurseries across South West London. 

Our Ethos

Liberty Woodland School and Little Forest Folk was established to give children - including our own - the chance to grow up with a sense of awe and freedom as part of their everyday lives. After all, wisdom begins in wonder. We have created a world where children feel inspired, engaged and passionate about their own learning, breaking away from the traditional prescriptive classroom-based lessons, to learn in a natural, more holistic way.

The Role

As a Liberty Woodland School Tinkerer and Maker, you’ll be tasked with creating and enabling a positive workshop for the children aged 4 – 11, to use craft and woodwork to express their learning and understanding of their environment, and empowering the children to take responsibility of their own learning through creating, making and tinkering. You’ll use your existing skills, experience and passion for education and creating to facilitate the incorporation of the children’s tinkering and making into their chosen projects for the term, which will be based on their interests, allowing them to experiment and learn in a creative, imaginative and safe way. You will be responsible for the creation and maintenance of a safe workshop space with tools and materials available to provoke and stimulate children’s creativity in tinkering, making and creating.

Due to the project-based nature of the curriculum, you will not be required to set homework and there will be no work that requires marking. Instead you will use your own critical thinking to reflect on the projects and to carry out purposeful & meaningful assessments in the form of a learning story which will be shared & reflected upon with the children, and to consider children’s development to adapt the direction of the scheme of work after each “inspiration week” in the term. In addition, you will spend time between terms and projects to work effectively in a team to reflect on and improve and develop the overall experience of the school and curriculum as a whole.

Key Responsibilities

• ‘Our job is not to shape our children’s minds; it’s to let those minds explore all the possibilities that the world allows.’

• Create and maintain a safe workshop space with tools and materials available to provoke and stimulate children’s creativity in tinkering and making.

• Support ongoing learning projects and groups

• Extend children’s learning experiences by facilitating and sustaining a system to introduce and explore a wide range of workshop materials

• Ability to document a process and elevate the visibility of children’s ideas and theories

• Become a learner, engaging alongside the children in encountering the world with curiosity, wonder and awe. 

• Provoke occasions of discovery, helping children to discover their own questions and help them test hypotheses.

• Intentionally interact rather than interfere, facilitating the work of children.

• Interact with children to promote learning through play.

• Support and scaffold children to develop through their zone of proximal development.

• Work alongside the Learning Associates and Senior Learning Associates to observe children to provide a narrative and recognition of their achievements to then be used as research for future potential learning opportunities in addition to assessing their progress.

• Ensure the learning environment meet the needs and interests of the children, having an awareness of any physical or learning disabilities, family cultures and medical history.

• Provide a widening range of appropriate and interesting play materials and resources that children can change and interact with, and can be used for creative expression, symbolising and representation.  

• Ensure there are a variety of opportunities for active and interactive learning, for children to have an effect and to change the environment, and for social interaction with adults and other children.

• Effectively provide scaffolding for the children’s endeavours, providing support and connections as and when they are required, and facilitating the children’s self-directing learning.

• Provide encouragement, warmth and acceptance to the children, along with challenges for creative and complex learning and thinking, helping them to extend their ideas and actions through sensitive, informed, well-judged interventions and support. 

• Participate in regular observations and reflections of projects and children to ensure the children’s interest and development are incorporated into the schemes of work and projects.

• Collaborate with the children in updating schemes of work after each inspiration week of each term, through sustained conversations, queries, and complex thinking. 

• Contribute to the development and writing of new schemes of work when required.  

• Develop and maintain strong partnerships and communication with parents/carers to facilitate day-to-day learning needs and encourage family involvement.

• Provide appropriate assessments in line with the school’s assessment procedures, using a combination of daily observations, monthly learning stories, encouraging monthly self-assessments by the children, and termly meetings with the family and child.

• Advocate to the greater public the value of exemplary early education and outdoor learning. 

Qualification and Experience

• PGCE or QTS desirable

• Bachelor of Arts desirable

• Experience in woodwork or carpentry

• Experience working in an educational setting is required

• Paediatric First Aid desirable

• Food Safety and Hygiene desirable 

• Forest School Level 2/3 desirable

• Experience of working with 4 to 11 year olds in a primary school setting

• Experience within an outdoor education environment desirable

Personal Attributes and Skills

• Flexibility and adaptability

• Positive attitude towards outdoor education 

• Passion and creativity 

• High-energy, active and resilient 

• Excellent communication skills

• Team player

• Approachable and caring

• Reliable and respectful when interacting with parents, colleagues and the community

• A love of the outdoors

Website: https://www.libertywoodlandschool.com/

Liberty Woodland School is an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.