Project Coordinator (Wales)

About the Charity 

Since 1891, Children North East has supported babies, children, young people and their families to grow up happy and healthy. Working across the North East and beyond, they deliver vital services – often stepping in when there is no one else to turn to. Their commitment to children’s rights, advocacy for policy change, and listening to the voices of those experiencing hardship drive their mission to ensure every child has the best possible future.

Their life changing work spans mental health support, family intervention, Poverty Proofing®, community initiatives, neurodivergence and SEND support, and more – all designed to create opportunities, remove barriers and help children thrive.

Children North East’s Poverty Proofing® methodology works to address and uncover the hidden barriers that reduce attainment for children and young people experiencing poverty.

Since 2011, they have worked across schools, healthcare, arts and culture settings, and other sectors to help organisations become ‘poverty proofed’ and to drive meaningful change at both individual and system levels. Their approach centres on place-based solutions and amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, ensuring that hidden structural barriers to attainment are identified and addressed.

The work has been recognised nationally, cited multiple times as good practice in the UK Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, and continues to influence how organisations understand and respond to the impact of poverty on children’s lives.

Project Coordinator

Project Overview 

Children North East, Resolve Poverty and the Welsh Government are partnering to deliver a three-year programme designed to reduce the cost of the school day and lessen the impact of poverty on learners across Wales. Running from April 2026 to April 2029, the initiative will support schools, local authorities, learners and families to remove financial barriers to education and ensure every child can thrive, whatever their economic circumstances. This work forms a central part of the Welsh Government’s commitment to equity in education and its wider mission to tackle child poverty.

The programme will help schools, settings, governing bodies and education staff identify the barriers to attendance, engagement and attainment that arise from economic circumstances. It will provide evidence-based support, professional learning and guidance to help achieve equity in provision.

A key focus will be contributing to a national conversation about poverty and its impact on learners, using learner voice to challenge stigma and unconscious bias. The programme will also support schools in removing barriers linked to the poverty related attainment gap and develop a consistent bank of resources and guidance to promote non stigmatising practice across the Welsh education system.

Alongside this, it will strengthen local authority initiatives aimed at tackling the impact of poverty on education and help coordinate national efforts. It will also contribute to the development of professional learning for the teaching workforce – from initial teacher education through to NPQH candidates – ensuring that issues of equity and poverty are embedded throughout the system.

Purpose of the Role

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing this project, with support from our existing Poverty Proofing Coordinators and the Poverty Proofing the School Day Team manager, based in North East England and the West Midlands.

Working alongside a Policy Officer and Communications Executive, this role will have support from other Poverty Proofing the School Day Coordinators based in North East England and the West Midlands.

This role will be home-based with regular travel throughout Wales, and occasionally to North East England.

Line Management

• This role will be line managed by the Poverty Proofing the School Day Team Manager.
• Line-manage sessional staff and volunteers as needed.

Main Responsibilities

Lead the development of a representative, bilingual national learners’ network to gather and amplify the voices of learners experiencing poverty in education.

• Engage and recruit learners across Wales.
• Create and deliver training that empowers young people to co-design and co-produce poverty-aware resources and approaches, ensuring that Welsh Government accessibility standards are met.
• Coordinate participation opportunities for children, young people and families for them to develop skills, build confidence and influence decisions as active partners.
• Apply a Children’s Rights Approach in all aspects of the work.

Support the development of a bilingual national educators’ network.

• Provide training and guidance to the education workforce and local authorities to reduce school-day costs and eliminate poverty stigma.
• Recruit partners across the Welsh education system and coordinate a national bilingual network focused on reducing costs and stigma, strengthening understanding of and support for Welsh Government priorities.
• Create new learning opportunities to help educators access resources and approaches that reduce poverty related stigma and lower school costs for pupils.

Support the Senior Policy Officer to engage with local, regional and Welsh Government teams.

• Contribute to planning sessions and policy workshops as required.
• Share insights and data from delivery to support policy refinement.
• Support the Local Authority Policy Network and Advice events.

Implement and manage monitoring and evaluation

• Implement an agreed monitoring and evaluation framework, and track progress against milestones and agreed outcomes.
• Collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data for continuous improvement, providing evidence-based reporting and supporting external audits or reviews if required.

Develop, manage and maintain stakeholder relationships

• Build new relationships with a view to solutions-based collaboration.
• Maintain up-to-date and accurate record keeping.

Promote the project through conference speaking, events and contributions to publications, including coordinating a national conference in Year 3.

Essential Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, in Welsh and English – we are open to conversations around this.
• Experience delivering projects that actively involve babies, children, young people and families.
• Understanding of participation, research and consultation.
• Knowledge and understanding of the issues faced by babies, children, young people and families.
• Knowledge of Welsh Safeguarding legislation and local guidance and practice.
• Understanding of poverty and the impacts on education, with a commitment to social justice.
• Understanding of the Welsh educational context
• High level of IT literacy with ability to interpret data to inform decision making, and high-level report writing and presentation skills.
• Good organisational skills and ability to work across a number of tasks and work areas.
• Able to work independently in a challenging and changing environment.
• Share the values of Children North East.
• Able to work flexibly to meet the requirements of the post, including regular overnight travel.
• A full driving licence and access to a vehicle are required due to regular travel between sites and for community-based work.

Desirable Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• Professional qualification (to degree level)
• Experience being responsible for the successful delivery of multiple projects simultaneously.

Personal Qualities

• A great advocate of social justice, and the project, able to promote it by being a public face of the charity and its work.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to build relationships with a wide range of people.
• A proactive, rapid learner and creative, flexible thinker who is able to work independently to drive the scope of the project.

Health & Safety Roles & Responsibilities

• Employees/sessional workers have a statutory duty to take reasonable care of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work.
• Employees/sessional workers must also comply with Children North East’s health and safety arrangements.

Additional Duties

• It is the nature of the work of Children North East that tasks and responsibilities are in many circumstances unpredictable and varied. All staff and sessional workers are therefore expected to undertake work which may not be specifically covered in the job description. These additional duties will be compatible with the regular tasks and duties.

Reward, Benefits, Terms and Conditions

Salary

£29,024 to £31,856.64 (Scale Points 29-32). Please note that appointments are usually made with a salary offer starting at the lower end of the scale.

Hours

A normal working week is 37 hours Due to the varied nature of the duties; a flexible approach will be required and may include evenings. Time off in lieu may be taken following agreement of the line manager. We are very proud to be a flexible employer. Please feel free to discuss any flexible working requests at interview.

Place of Work

This role will be home-based with regular travel throughout Wales, and occasionally to North East England.

Length of Contract

This role is fixed term until 31st March 2029.

Holiday Entitlement

Full time employees are entitled to 30 days a year plus statutory and general national holidays. This is pro-rated for part time staff.

Probationary Period

There is a 6 months probationary period for this position.

Car Allowance

A casual car user allowance applies to this post.

Period of Notice

Two months’ notice from either the employee or the organisation is required (one month during the probationary period).

Parental Benefit

There is an occupational maternity pay scheme for staff who have 12 months continuous service and we offer 2 weeks partner/paternity leave at full pay. We also offer an occupational adoption pay scheme for staff who have 12 months continuous service.

Sick Pay

There is an occupational sick pay scheme at Children North East.

Pension Scheme

There is a staff pension scheme in which the organisation also contributes 7.25% of staff members’ salary.

Health Care

All staff members who are contracted over a ten month period are entitled to join the organisations private health care scheme.

Saving Scheme

A saving scheme is available so that staff can choose to save part of their salary. This is then paid back to staff on request.

Bus Passes

The cost of an annual bus pass used for a member of staff’s work can be paid in 12 monthly amounts, deducted from their salary.

How to Apply

Please visit the “Our Vacancies” section of our website to apply. Please note CVs will not be accepted.

We welcome a diverse range of applications and are passionate about promoting equality, and valuing diversity. We welcome applications from all suitable qualified persons particularly black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

Closing date

Monday 13th July 2026 at 12 noon.

Interview date

Wednesday 29th July 2026 & Thursday 30th July 2026. Interviews will be held in Cardiff at a location to be confirmed.

Contact

Please contact Operational Lead – Poverty Proofing, if you have any questions regarding the role.