Job Details:
Activities Support Worker

Job Description

Support Rainbow Haven to plan, deliver and monitor our weekly timetable of activities.

Reporting to: Activities and Volunteer Coordinator

This role is designed to provide useful work experience and the chance to learn new skills in a friendly and supportive workplace. We are strongly encouraging applications from people with lived experience of migration and the immigration system and who are unemployed or underemployed at the moment. 

Tasks:

• Keep our timetable of activities up to date and share it with people who come to Rainbow Haven
• Welcome the people who run the activities and make sure they have everything they need for each session 
• Work with our volunteers to get rooms ready for each activity and make sure everything is put away safely
• Provide information to people and encourage them to attend activities
• Distribute and collect signing in sheets for each activity
• Collect feedback from participants to find out what they think about the activities 
• Enter monitoring and feedback information onto spreadsheets
• Distribute and make records of bus fares when these are given to people attending an activity
• Support the Activities and Volunteer Coordinator with other relevant tasks as required 

During the placement we expect that there will be an opportunity to plan a new activity to add to the timetable. 

Person Specification 

The Person Specification describes the skills and qualities needed for this role.  These can be skills and qualities gained at any time, from work and volunteering and at home. 

When you complete the application form, please cover all the points in the Person Specification.

Skills:

• Competent level of spoken and written English – Level 2 or equivalent
• Confident and familiar with using email, Word and Excel
• Good smartphone skills: texts and Whatsapp
• Good at communicating with people 
• Good at organising activities and making plans
• Good time keeping 
• Good at following instructions 

Qualities

• Friendly and welcoming to people of many backgrounds and cultures
• Reliable and able to commit to regular work tasks 
• Good understanding of why confidentiality is important 
• Able to work on your own initiative
• A good member of a team 
• Keen to learn new skills 

Essential information for applicants

Please read this information carefully before you complete the application form. 

• This is a paid placement role based at Rainbow Haven’s Centre in Gorton, East Manchester.
• We will provide a good introduction to the role, with support to learn how to do all the tasks well, and access to training.
• It is a fixed term post lasting 9 months.
• We are hoping that if you are successful you can start the role as soon as possible. 
• We will let you know if you have been selected to come for an interview by 20^th January 2025. 
• If you are invited to come for an interview, we will offer you the chance to visit our centre on 21^st or 23^rd January. We can reimburse travel costs for the visit and the interview.
• Interviews will be on 27^th January. 

Information about Rainbow Haven and the 9-month placement role                           

Our work

Rainbow Haven is based in Gorton, Manchester. We are a community service for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants needing support. We have two drop-in days a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where we welcome people to our centre and offer advice and information, hot lunches, and activities, and we have some activities on Wednesdays. 

On each drop-in day 60 or more people visit our centre so we can get very busy. People come from many different countries and speak many languages. We aim to provide a friendly space where they can relax while they wait for information and support, and enjoy social and educational activities. 

Our team

Our friendly staff team has 10 permanent members: two Managers (job share), three Casework Coordinators, who provide advice and information, Activities and Volunteer Coordinator, Drop-in Support Worker, Finance Officer, Chef, and Cleaner. We also have a team of over 35 volunteers who help us to deliver our services and activities. Rainbow Haven was developed by The East Manchester Community Association. We have a Board of Trustees who are volunteers giving their time to support and oversee our work. 

Our values

We want to provide a welcoming, inclusive workplace and to maintain a diverse staff and volunteer team. Many of our staff and volunteers are from refugee and migrant backgrounds and speak community languages as well as English. We promote opportunities to people who might feel excluded from other workplaces due to their experiences of migration and the immigration system and their lack of work experience in the U.K. 

Our activities

We have a weekly timetable of regular activities during term-times that includes:

• English classes
• Computer Club
• Gardening Club
• Mama and Baby Group

We have other activities too that run for shorter periods of time, for example:

• Women’s activity group
• Men’s mental health group
• Crafts
• Choir
• Employability courses

Our Activities and Volunteer Coordinator plans and arranges these activities as well as overseeing our volunteer team. 

The placement role - Activities Support Worker

Rainbow Haven is excited to advertise the placement role for the third and final time, and we look forward to welcoming the successful applicant to our team. The person we appoint will work closely with the Activities and Volunteer Coordinator, who will provide a really good welcome, support and supervision. Over time, the job will involve taking on greater levels of responsibility for the activities and all the tasks involved in making things run smoothly. 

We are especially hoping to receive applications from people who have lived experience of migration and the immigration system, who haven’t worked in the UK before, and who want an opportunity to gain useful skills and experience that will support them to apply for other paid work in future. 

There will be opportunities during the 9 months to help plan new activities and events such as parties and celebrations!