Jobs Archive

The MAXwell Centre’s Community Garden is located at the heart of Coldside area in Dundee. The garden project and outreach programme attracts schools, community groups and residents across the city to take up the challenge of growing their own food as well as using our inclusive, creative and busy community garden space.

The successful candidate will be instrumental in supporting the next stage of development of the Maxwell Tool and Seed Library.

We are looking for someone with good knowledge of sustainable food growing, and excellent IT, communication and organisational skills required to deliver this service and support groups and individuals to grow their own food and adapt and improve their own garden spaces for food growing, wildlife and connecting with nature.

 Main Duties

 Assist the garden coordinator in the development and maintenance of our Tool and Seed library, which allows anyone in Dundee, for an annual membership of £1, to borrow gardening books and tools and access free seeds with personalized advice and follow up. We want to expand its impact by identifying the needs of current and prospective library members and adapting our services.

Support and develop effective promotion of the library through the appropriate use and distribution of posters, leaflets as well as outreach work, including and use of social media.

Maintenance of garden and library tools, books and seeds updating the catalogue online with new purchases or donations and communicating with library users as required.

Assistance at monthly plant swaps or other events.

Assist with the evaluation and monitoring of the Project including the maintenance of records, statistics etc.

 Together with the Board of Directors ensure that all policy and procedures are in line with the organisations current policy and procedures.

 Other Duties

This job description is a broad general picture of the post at the date of preparation.  It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time.

Funding to 31st May 2024.

Click here to download the job description. 

Today, Ochil Tower School is a thriving educational and residential community, where 27 children and young people, aged 8-21, with special and complex additional support needs live, learn and grow together.

The school is part of the Camphill Community which comprises 11 different Camphill sites in Scotland. Camphill is an international movement. Inspired by the work of Rudolph Steiner, it was founded by a group of Austrian refugees in Aberdeen at the start of WW2. At this time people with any form of learning disability were often excluded from many aspects of society in general and education in particular. Camphill took a different view and created the first Camphill school to care for and educate children with special needs. It is now a global ideology and movement.

The aim is to create a beautiful and calm experience. Ochil Tower School is set in seven acres of stunning Perthshire countryside. This enables its children and young adults to feel more relaxed and better able to forge relationships with peers and staff. They are then more able to build self-esteem, confidence and their capacity for resilience.

The School provides excellent care and education and is not short on ambition. In October 2018, it opened a new Life Skills Centre. This facility is for young adults aged 18 – 21 and is designed to help them so that they are better prepared for the challenges of living an independent adult life by developing their skills in learning, life and work. OTS is now focused on extending the residential provision to 52 weeks. This is already being provided to eight young people with plans in place for this to be extended to all young people residing in the school by January 2023. The Board of Trustees have a commitment to further enhancing and developing their residential houses, and plans to build new educational facilities for the school.

Ochil Tower School has an exciting opportunity within our Gardening Department to join us as an Assistant Gardener.

Job Purpose

To assist the head gardener in maintaining, renovating and conserving the living environments across Ochil Tower in line with best organic horticultural standards. These environments

include herbaceous gardens, mature lawns, extensive hedging, large mixed beds with ponds, a small field, woodlands, and walled gardens with a kitchen garden. As these environments provide therapeutic and learning benefits to our children, young people, and staff, they play a key role in the delivery of our 24 hour curriculum. The purpose of this job therefore includes assisting in preparing class and house activities in the gardens and woodlands. The assistant gardener will also help ensure the living environment and related estate facilities are fit and safe for purpose, in line with our sustainability aims and the broader work of the Estate & Facilities Team.

Main Duties

Promote a positive ethos and culture in the Garden team, working closely with the Head Gardener and the wider Estates and Facilities Team, consistent with Ochil Tower’s vision, purpose and core values.

To assist in the day-to-day and seasonal care and maintenance of the gardens and woodlands across Ochil Tower by undertaking weeding, pruning, trimming, barrowing materials, composting, mulching, and lawn mowing.

To assist in the day-to-day and seasonal development and maintenance of the walled gardens by undertaking composting, hoeing and raking, as well as seed sowing, planting and care of crops, harvesting and fruit tree pruning.

To assist the head gardener in working with care and education staff so that they can support the children and young people to engage with: edible garden produce and healthy eating; the natural environmental and outdoor learning; and biodiversity within the different living environments in Ochil Tower.

To assist the wider Estates & Facilities Team in tasks which require team-based, collective effort where necessary, and to report any hazards and remedial issues promptly.

Work in accordance with all Ochil Tower policies and procedures, including health and safety procedures and safe use of tools.

Attend supervision, annual performance review, training and other meetings, as required.

Undertake any other reasonable duties in line with skill level and experience, as may be requested by management.

Qualifications

Desirable

Formal work-based training or apprenticeship in horticultural practice

NC in horticulture or equivalent or higher horticultural qualification

Driving license

First Aid qualification

Safe Ladder training

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

Knowledge of Health and Safety practices.

Good communication and interpersonal skills, both written and oral, with attention to detail and the ability to work effectively with a range of stakeholders.

Strong organisational and time management skills, with an emphasis on maintaining order and cleanliness throughout the working day.

Desirable:

Basic working knowledge of, and passion for, organic horticulture and biodiversity (or a genuine interest in developing this understanding).

Demonstrable skill in manual tasks including weeding, pruning, hoeing, raking, digging, trimming, mowing and composting.

Experience of safe use of a range of horticultural hand tools and machinery.

Experience of growing crops for a kitchen garden.

Ability to identify and maintain a range of plants according to their habit and seasonal needs.

Confidence in using and maintaining horticultural machinery.

Experience of working in a children with additional support needs education or childcare setting.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: £24,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Company pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• Enhanced maternity leave
• Referral programme
• Sick pay

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Auchterarder: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

CHAS are seeking a creative, enthusiastic and practical individual to join their small team to deliver community gardening. A person with a keen interest in therapeutic gardening who likes to collaborate and work with other teams to deliver a special wellbeing environment for children, families and visitors to the Hospice.

For Job Descriptions and all information regarding this post, see the CHAS web pages https://chas.current-vacancies.com/Jobs/Advert/3055396?cid=1809&s=False&t=Gardener&l=Kinross 

River Garden is set in a beautiful rural location in South Ayrshire where a more appropriate setting for recovery could not be imagined. Operating from a 48.5 acre site on the river Ayr, we are building a community dedicated to sustainable recovery from drugs and alcohol through our vibrant, innovative approach to the development of social enterprises to provide occupation and learning for our residents and to support the continued growth of our dreams.

We are looking for an experienced gardener to take the lead in developing horticultural activities, organise the implementation of the garden masterplan in conjunction with other team members, and organise and teach residents and volunteers in all aspects of horticulture.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Planning and organising daily gardening activities for residents to be supported in engaging with nature, producing vegetables and fruit to use in our kitchen and in the propagation of plants for our grounds and sale to the public et e.g. our Fayre events.
• Assisting/overseeing and supporting with estate maintenance.
• Planning and development of the gardens with other relevant parties (and advisors).
• Having demonstrable experience and ability to assess and plan for the reduction of risk in horticultural activities.
• Supporting Peer Workers in the planning of residents’ recovery journeys through horticultural activity.
• Joining/leading residents in presentations to local groups (Rotary, Church, Schools etc).  This is a key aspect of the promotional and de-stigmatising elements of the role. These presentations sometimes take place in the evening or at weekends.

Flexibility and a desire to positively support people in their recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is essential.  A demonstrable knowledge of the therapeutic benefits of horticulture to mental wellbeing and knowledge of the work of organisations such as THRIVE would be desirable. 

Awareness and Responsibility

• Awareness and understanding of the work and ethos of River Garden.
• To work cooperatively in line with the larger ideals and aspirations of River Garden Auchincruive.
• Maintain high standards and acting as a good role model for residents in recovery.
• Respect and work to the standards required under Health & Safety, Food Handling and Hygiene.
• Demonstrate patience, respect and openness in dealings with everyone.
• A demonstrable ability to multi task and work under the pressure and challenges of a demanding work environment.

Charity overview

River Garden’s approach is unique in Scotland and combines a “work orientated approach” through working in our various enterprises, backed up by specific, time tested input on recovery models of care, residents can grow over the 3-year residential journey into rounded people whose recovery and abstinence is sustainable and who feel pride in themselves as productive, engaged members of their various local communities.

Our first social enterprise “The Bothy Café” is firmly establishing itself as a “go to” place for the local community and the open access nature of our site has a significant de-stigmatising benefit for those in recovery. Our “fledgling” events management social enterprise fills us with excitement and our purpose-built River Garden woodworking enterprise is on the cusp of opening. We are committed to this being our “Year of the garden” where we, through our residents, volunteers and staff, strive to enhance the experience of visitors to our site and the gardens we have on the estate.

We have exciting plans for developing new social enterprises over the next few years. The challenge is significant and the rewards are immense. This is an exciting time for River Garden, with massive infrastructural change sponsored by The Social Inclusion Partnership and the Scottish Government. We look forward to increasing our resident numbers to 50+ over the next few years.

To find out more: check out our website at www.rivergarden.scot