Schools Climate Action Manager

Salary range: £49,083 - £52,116 (pro rata) p.a. inc. London weighting

Contract: 12 months Fixed term / Secondment (1 September 2024 to 21 August 2025)

Hours of work: 36 hours per week 

Location: Civic centre and other locations from time to time 

Help Brent's schools to tackle climate change 

Worried about the looming threat of climate change, but not sure what you can do to help tackle it? Look no further. This is your chance to work directly with schools within the council’s exciting Green Neighbourhoods programme and to bring about a greener, more environmentally friendly borough for all to enjoy.

Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up. Brent’s diversity is evident to all who visit our borough and our long history of ethnic and cultural diversity has created a place that is truly unique and valued by those who live and work here.

The council is pursuing a far-reaching transformation agenda that better meets the needs of our community so it is an exciting time to join us. 

The Post 

Brent Council declared a climate and ecological emergency in 2019 and pledged to do all in its gift to achieve carbon neutrality in the borough by 2030. In 2021, the council’s Cabinet approved Brent’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy (2021-2030) which set out our objectives and areas of focus for tackling climate change. We are delighted to now be offering an opportunity to join the climate team in this hugely important and interesting role.

The post holder will lead cross-cutting programme management and day-to-day delivery of varied school-led workstreams tackling the climate and ecological emergency.

The postholder will have the opportunity to lead and make a positive impact on a host of projects, embedding the ‘whole school approach' to environmental sustainability across Schools in Brent.

These include:

• the processes and steps required for schools to obtain eco-school accreditation; 
• developing and running pupil eco-committees; 
• projects relating to a reduction in consumption, resources and waste on school sites; 
• litter clearance and environmental stewardship; 
• developing and implementing STARS accredited School Travel Plans; 
• implementing the roll-out of School Streets Schemes; 
• Energy Efficient School Buildings; 
• Nature, Green Space and Biodiversity initiatives; 
• embedding tackling climate change and environmental sustainability in the school curriculum; 
• meat-free school provision; 
• improving awareness and engagement with parents and local communities; 
• and implementing sustainability within school decision making.

The Person

We are looking for a driven, organised, creative and resilient candidate with a passion for making Brent greener and environmentally sustainable. You will have a good understanding of the Climate and Ecological Emergency agenda and have demonstrable experience of delivering complex projects with excellent results, as well being adept at managing wide-ranging internal and external stakeholders. Experience of working in the education or children and young people’s sector and delivering projects in school settings is desirable.

Closing date: Monday 2 July 2024 (23:59).

Additional Information

If you are interested in applying for this job, please start by clicking the "Apply Now" button below. You must provide a supporting statement as part of your application that clearly shows how you meet the criteria on the Person Specification. We will accept a CV in support of your application, however, you should still provide a supporting statement.

Brent Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this and therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. We positively encourage all applicants to self-identify their characteristics in the diversity survey section in the application.

We are committed to safer recruitment and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants should be aware that posts working with children, young people and vulnerable adults are subject to an Enhanced DBS check as well as other employment clearances.

The information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas and your data protection rights, can be found here.

Brent has a positive approach to flexible working. 

As a disability confident employer Brent welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including “non-visible” disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on recruitment@brent.gov.uk