King’s College School Wimbledon – Rowing Coach & Boathouse Assistant (Part-time)

The School 

King’s College School is an independent day school for boys aged 7-18 and girls aged 16-18. Founded in 1829 by Royal Charter, King’s is a school of almost 1,500 pupils, including approximately 300 boys in the junior school, located in one of the most attractive and peaceful parts of London. There are over 240 staff in the two common rooms and 161 non-teaching staff.

King’s prides itself on being a forward-thinking and innovative school. As well as being a very successful International Baccalaureate school, we offer pupils the opportunity to study from a wide A level curriculum and to engage with our family of schools abroad. We accept boys at the age of 11 into year 7 of the senior school from both primary and prep schools, as well as our own junior school. We also continue to offer the 13+ entry into our fourth form (year 9), and over 50 girls join the school each year at 16 to study in our sixth form. A £50m master plan was recently completed that has renewed and replaced major facilities across the campus.

The culture at King’s is one of kindness, openness and support, and the wellbeing of our pupils is of the utmost importance. Colleagues, parents and pupils work together in a warm and supportive atmosphere to help every child achieve their full potential. We strive to ensure the experiences of all pupils are as positive as they can be, and have recently appointed a new director of equality, diversity and inclusion to spearhead our equality and inclusion agenda in all its forms.

Academically, King’s is consistently placed within the top five schools in national league tables. In the most recent years when exams have taken place, over 50% of all sixth form grades were awarded A* at A level or 7 at IB Higher Level and over 80% of all GCSEs were graded 9/8 (or A*). Over 300 boys and girls have won places at Oxbridge in the last seven years, with over 90% of pupils achieving their first choice university offer.

Our approach at all levels encourages pupils to look beyond academic excellence, as the vibrant success of our drama, music and games departments indicates. We are fully committed to the CCF, the DofE Award Scheme, and partnership work with over 30 local maintained schools, encompassing community projects involving large numbers of Kings’ pupils on Friday afternoons.

King’s has a history of enabling bright young minds from every background to access the school, and financial assistance of up to 100% of tuition fees and up to 100% of other costs is available. Admitting boys aged eleven directly into the senior school since September 2016 has afforded access from a wider range of family backgrounds and we have raised significant bursary funds to support the 11+ senior school entry, which includes income from our sister and partner schools in China, Bangkok and Monaco.

Alumni of the school include poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, musicians Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) and Dan Smith (Bastille), theatre director Christopher Luscombe and actor Ben Barnes. For more information about King’s please see our website

The Post 

Reporting to: Director of Rowing

Kings College School is seeking to appoint a well-qualified and part-time Boathouse Assistant and Rowing Coach. This is a part time position.

The successful candidate will have experience in a similar role and have the ability to assist with the boathouse equipment requirements, including transportation, maintenance and administration. Experience coaching rowing at a young level on a tidal river would be an advantage, as would holding a RYA L2 powerboat qualification and British rowing qualification. The role is to support the rowing programme at King’s College School both on site at Putney/Wimbledon and whilst away at events. Participation in training camps will also be an expectation. You will be supported by the director of rowing and will have on-site assistance from the highly experienced coaching staff.

Boat House Responsibilities:

The successful applicant will be required to carry out the following duties:

  • The management of all rowing equipment: to monitor the condition of equipment; ensuring regular maintenance of boats and oars. To ensure boats are regularly cleaned and to keep the labelling and storage of equipment consistent and up to date including the painting of oars in club colours
  • To keep the boathouse in a neat and orderly condition
  • To ensure a repair and replace programme is in place, and regularly updated, including a well-stocked workshop
  • To deliver and collect equipment as directed by the director of rowing
  • To assist coaches as required with rigging and setting up equipment
  • To undertake minor maintenance work on rowing equipment, as required
  • To keep a regular check on coaching launches and document annual repairs
  • To ensure all coaching launches have safety bags and conform to British Rowing guidelines
  • To maintain the boat club vehicles (truck and trailers) in good condition and arrange the servicing of them in conjunction with the School Facilities Manager
  • To assist with the loading and unloading of trailers, working closely with the coaches, for all rowing events
  • Where possible, to tow trailers (only if qualified) to events and act as equipment support to the coaches
  • To assist the director of rowing with the annual safety audit for British Rowing and update as required
  • To liaise with School Facilities Manager regarding any maintenance of the boat house, boat house security and fire alarms ensuring all work is notified to the director of rowing.

Coaching Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will possess a sound understanding of rowing and sculling techniques as well as a firm knowledge of the fundamentals of rigging a boat correctly for a given crew. There will be an expectation to attend regattas and headraces and to assist with the equipment required at such events. They will attend training camps and GB trials as required and act as loco parentis for groups whilst on away events. There is a requirement to assist with the day to day administration of the club together with the director of rowing.

Health and Safety Responsibilities:

  • To assist with the risk assessments throughout the boat club
  • To ensure safe practices are in place at the boat house and whilst away at events
  • To ensure that all communication equipment is operational and compliant
  • To administer basic first aid to pupils as required, dealing with any basic accidents, reporting incidents and liaising with school’s nursing team as needed (training will be provided)
  • To attend regular first aid training modules

The successful candidate will also be required to undertake any other reasonable tasks requested by the head master, the bursar, the director of rowing and/or deputy heads in association with the above role.

Person Specification

The successful candidate is likely to be able to demonstrate the following skills and qualifications:

  • A commitment to the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils
  • A high level of boatman competence combined with rowing and/or coaching competences
  • A specialist sports and/or relevant British Rowing coaching qualification and RYA L2 Powerboat Qualification or significant coaching competence on tidal water would be advantageous
  • Experience of working with children or young people
  • Awareness of health and safety issues (First Aid training will be provided)
  • A warm, cheerful and well-presented person, capable of inspiring confidence in pupils and parents
  • Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
  • An ability to work independently as well as part of a team
  • Professionalism and commitment to the demands of a successful co-curricular programme
  • A clean driving licence and medical fitness is essential

For the right applicant training may be provided to attain relevant qualifications for a variety of aspects within the role.

Working hours:

The annual hours for the role will vary subject to timetable requirements.

Boathouse assistance:

Working hours for a normal week will be from 9:00am-1:00pm on Monday and Wednesday mornings. With agreement from the director of rowing these hours can be adjusted to suit.

Coaching:

The normal working week will involve sessions on Monday and Friday afternoons from 2:00-4:00pm, Thursday afternoons from 4:45-6:45pm and on Sunday afternoons from 12:00-4:30pm. The year groups will predominantly be J14 and J15.

Holiday duties:

  • There will be an expectation to coach and operate as boatman during school holidays. During this time, there will be a variety of groups training and competing. Session timings and duties to be confirmed for each occasion.

Terms and Conditions

  • Required as soon as possible
  • Salary £15-20 per hour
  • Contributory pension scheme
  • Programme of health benefits
  • Subsidised membership of the King’s Sports Club

Further details can be found at: www.kcs.org.uk (under useful information/ career opportunities)

Early applications are welcome – the interview process may be staged and some interviews held in advance of the closing date if there is a large number of applicants for the role.

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

 

 

Application Dates: From Wednesday 8th September 2021 to Thursday 16th September 2021

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