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The Mercian Trust
About this Role
Job Title: Playworker
Location: Walsall
Oakwood School is a specialist provision for children and young people aged 3 - 15 years with complex educational needs. The school is commissioned for 267 places (September 2025).
We pride ourselves in providing a safe, stimulating and nurturing learning environment where we help our pupils to learn in bespoke and innovative ways to ensure optimum progression.
Our highly qualified staff coupled with our forward-thinking approach to resources and technology, allow learners to communicate and participate in the world around them.
We promote a wide range of high-quality learning experiences, catering for all learning styles so that no learner is ever left behind.
At Oakwood everyone is valued and treated with respect and is encouraged to be the best they can possibly be.
Our Vision
At Oakwood School we are nurtured to grow and flourish.
We promote a culture of positivity, ambition and resilience through pupil centred learning to engage, motivate and empower learners in all areas of their lives.
Learners are at the heart of our school. Together with their families, we foster strong supportive teams around them to build on strengths and overcome barriers, embracing creativity, innovation and technology.
We maximise potential, grow independence and celebrate all achievements.
Our Mission
As a hub of the community, it is our responsibility to create opportunities for every learner to be the best that they can possibly be! Through our personalised curriculum learners will develop emotionally, physically and holistically. Learners will feel valued, respected and safe in our happy and inclusive environment.
Find more information here: Oakwood
Want to make a difference to young people?
Are you ready to embark on a rewarding journey within an educational community that values increasing opportunities, improving outcomes for our students. We are looking for a Playworker to join our team. Reporting to Head of School you will undertake:
Key Duties and Responsibilities
- Carry out playwork and make provision for free play in a school-based environment. This may include lunchtimes, the school playground, after school sessions, or curriculum time outside of lessons. The role supports children and young people by providing opportunities for freely chosen, self-directed play.
- Establishing play spaces and facilitating play in a school or other appropriate setting.
- Working with children and young people to create play spaces and support freely chosen, self-directed play.
- Planning, preparing and implementing specific play opportunities at children’s or young people’s request, where appropriate.
- Developing and maintaining positive relationships with children and young people, and supporting relationships between children, young people and others in the play environment.
- Following the organisation’s safeguarding procedures to protect the welfare of children and young people.
- Supporting disabled children and young people in the play environment through appropriate planning, preparation and playwork practice.
- Supporting the health, safety, security and welfare of children and young people involved in play, including responding to emergencies in line with correct procedures.
- Contributing to the provision of food and drink in the play environment.
- Building effective relationships with parents and carers and providing information to them as appropriate.
- Supporting the development of playwork opportunities in the community, where appropriate, by maintaining positive links with other organisations and individuals.
- Contributing to administration in the play environment, including processing financial transactions, collecting and providing relevant information, and maintaining records.
- Supporting the arrival, departure and travel of children and young people outside the play environment.
- Reflecting on and improving your own playwork practice and contributing to the development of the wider playwork team.
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Qualifications and Skills
- NVQ Level 2 in Playwork or an equivalent qualification or experience.
- Experience of working with, or caring for, children of a relevant age.
- Familiarity with, and commitment to, the Playwork Principles in practice.
- Awareness of, and commitment to, equality of opportunity.
- Ability to support children and young people in freely chosen, self-directed play.
- Ability to follow safeguarding, health and safety, and emergency procedures.
- Ability to build positive relationships with children, young people, parents, carers and colleagues.
- Ability to contribute to inclusive play opportunities, including support for disabled children and young people.
For full details of the post please see attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Why The Mercian Trust?
As one Trust we share a common purpose. We call it our social mobility and social justice mission to change our communities through the very best equitable education. When we get this right, it enables our children and young people to fulfil their potential, thrive in the world of work, and make a positive contribution to the local, national and international community. Our recent achievements include:
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- Sustainable Growth - becoming one of the largest and most diverse trusts in the region
- Social Mobility & Social Justice - National recognition for the Trust’s two selective grammar schools who the most successful on the number of local disadvantaged students passing the entrance and joining the schools
- Increasing Opportunities – Opening brand-new purpose-built campus in Walsall Town Centre including an alternative provision for students at risk at permanent exclusion from mainstream schools alongside a Digital Skills Hub to provide professionals and employers
- Pioneering Spirit – National recognition for pioneering work around youth mental health, including establishing an in-house multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and allied health professionals delivering interventions and providing support to vulnerable students
- Outward Looking – Organising and hosting the region’s first Youth Suicide Conference (2023) and Youth Violence Conference (2024) at Villa Park
- Innovation and Improvement – A multi-million-pound investment in the digital infrastructure of Trust schools and our Digital Skills Hub underpinning the ongoing transformation of how staff teach, students learn, leaders lead and the whole Trust operates in readiness for the AI-supercharged careers and workplaces of the future.
Want to be a part of something extraordinary? Find out more: [The Mercian Trust](http://The Mercian Trust)
What can we offer you
Benefits
- Financial, Health and Lifestyle
- Discounts on everyday purchases (Eden Red)
- A comprehensive free of charge health plan (UK Health Care)
- A cycle to work scheme via Halfords
- Access to the Blue Light Card
For further benefits including education sector leading CPD: [The Mercian Trust](http://The Mercian Trust)
The Mercian Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults, and all appointments are subject to enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks and satisfactory references.
The Mercian Trust is also committed to promoting equality, challenging discrimination and developing community cohesion. We welcome applications from all sections of the community.
Please take time to read our policies attached to this advert.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
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