Salary: £14 per hour
Hours: Part time, flexible working (based on 1000 hours per annum – approx. 20 hours a week)
Duration: Fixed term until 30 March 2019 (potential for a further 2 years and beyond subject to securing funding)
Contract: Self-employed
Deadline:  Tuesday 12 June 2018
Interviews: Tuesday 26 June 2018 (or by arrangement)

Job Description

Introduction

 Perth & Kinross Disability Sport (PKDS) is a voluntary sport group whose main aim is to lead in the development of sport for people with physical, sensory or learning disabilities in partnership with key local agencies and local authority area of Perth & Kinross. PKDS is a member branch of Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) who are the governing body of sport for athletes and players with a physical, sensory or learning disability. The committee of PKDS now wishes to appoint a co-ordinator to join the branch.

The Purpose of the Post

To co-ordinate and develop a range of physical activity and sport sessions and events for children, young people and adults with physical, learning and sensory disabilities in the Perth & Kinross area.

The successful candidate must have a clean full UK driving license with access to a car and will possess excellent interpersonal, communication and organisational skills, will be self-motivated and able to work independently and as part of a team.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible and report to Perth & Kinross Disability Sport (PKDS).  The post holder will be required to:

1. To secure sufficient funds for the ongoing development of PKDS in accordance with OSCR guidelines and procedures. This will include 50% of the post holder salary for years 2 and 3.
2. Co-ordinate the selection and attendance of Perth & Kinross and Tayside teams to compete in SDS National events.
3. Develop, co-ordinate and promote education and development opportunities for Perth & Kinross’s coaches and volunteers working with disabled athletes and players.
4. Co-ordinate and manage the PKDS/ Tayside events programme in partnership with key agencies in the authority and region and promote physical activity and sport sessions for children, young people and adults with physical, learning and sensory disabilities.
5. Create, maintain and develop partnerships, liaising with local authority partners and other stakeholders to support people with a disability into sport
6. Contribute positively to the PKDS strategic development planning processes and ensure robust governance structures which will lead to Re-accreditation of the SDS Minimum Operating Requirements quality mark
7. Actively celebrate and promotes Perth & Kinross successes and positive role models in disability sport through PKDS.
8. Monitor and evaluate all PKDS Programmes.
9. Promote and market PKDS programmes and services.
10. Act as secretariat for the PKDS Committee.
11. Represent PKDS at related and relevant meetings as required.
12. Process and administer Protected Vulnerable Group (PVG) forms

General Responsibilities

1. Any other reasonable duties as delegated from time to time that are appropriate to this position
2. Contribute as appropriate to newsletter, website and other publications.

 Management

1. The post holder should report to and meet with the PKDS Chair on a regular basis to review progress. The post holder should also provide regular updates to the Trustees of the branch at the regular PKDS Trustee meetings. The Trustees will make all decisions associated with the strategic procedures of the post with appropriate input from the post-holder.

Essential skills for the role

• Able to work on own initiative with minimum of direct supervision
• Previous experience in working with and supporting people with a disability
• Sound administration skill, delivering a range of diverse project activities
• A background demonstrating good event planning and coordinating skills
• Familiar with the landscape of sport in a local, regional and national setting
• Good working knowledge of various IT packages – predominantly Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, however awareness of online survey and evaluation  tools such as Survey Monkey, Cognito Forms etc would be desirable.
• Comfortable with the use of social media and maintaining a website
• Hold a current full and clean driving licence – it is recommended that the post holder should have valid insurance for business use

Desirable skills for the role

• Able to demonstrate influencing and leadership skills in business and sporting settings using excellent communication skills
• Creativity, imagination and entrepreneurial attitude to fundraising
• Able to meet financial targets and deadlines
• Able to express your ideas clearly and confidently
• Able to motivate others and work as part of a team
• Demonstrate commitment to the aims and objectives of PKDS
• Demonstrate resilience and adaptability when faced with setbacks

Application procedure

The closing date for receipt of applications is Tuesday 12 June 2018. A CV and cover letter stating reason for application must be sent to Mark Gaffney by this date.

Further information

For further information about the post of any related enquiries please contact:

Mark Gaffney, Scottish Disability Sport, 0131 625 4417 / mark.gaffney@scottishdisabilitysport.com

Interviews and start date

Interviews are scheduled to take place on Tuesday 26 June 2018 in Perth & Kinross with shortlisted candidates being notified no later than Thursday 21 June. It is intended that the post will commence in July 2018 subject to the successful applicant’s notice period and availability.

Notes to applicants

Perth & Kinross Disability Sport is an equal opportunities organisation and aims to provide a working environment free from any form of harassment, intimidation, victimisation or unjustifiable discrimination. We aim to ensure that no job applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, marital status, race, colour, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age or disability. All appointments are made purely on the basis of merit and ability.

Disability Sport Fife (DSF) recognises that communication can be a major challenge for individuals with additional support needs wishing to become involved in active recreation and/or sport.

As part of Get Out Get Active supported by Spirit of 2012 (GOGA in Fife) DSF hosted a unique communication workshop aimed at addressing some of the challenges currently faced by coaches and volunteers in Fife.

Speech and language therapist Kate Fernando from Gateside delivered an in depth and thought provoking session on the use of visual imagery to create a positive learning environment. Principal teacher Judy Black from Kilmaron School followed up with a session on signing, based on Signalong, the communication system used in Fife. Both sessions were well received by the selected group of coaches and volunteers who attended the pilot workshop.

Thanks to GOGA investment DSF now has an impressive set of resources that will be made available to coaches and volunteers who operate in DSF sessions held across Fife. Those who attended the workshop will be more confident about addressing the challenges they face with some of their learners.

DSF believes that individuals with severe and complex needs are among the most inactive members of the Fife community. Workshops such as this will equip coaches and volunteers with the skills and tools to address the communication challenges faced by coaches and volunteers in weekly DSF sessions supported by GOGA.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

As part of Get Out Get Active (GOGA in Fife) supported by Spirit of 2012, the second GOGA in Fife walk in the park was held prior to the first race of the 2018 Fife cross country championships.

28 walkers and 23 “buddies” walked the 500m course in a non competitive leisurely manner. All had prepared appropriately for the walk and at the conclusion everybody had their GOGA participation certificates duly signed. Each time an athlete participates in a GOGA walk in the park their certificates are signed and dated.

Most participants had severe and complex needs and all are planning to complete four GOGA walks and lots of training every three months.

GOGA in Fife partners in the promotion of walking are Active Fife Bums Off Seats locally and Paths For All nationally.

Photos; some of the many walkers who took part

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

187 athletes registered for the 2018 Disability Sport Fife (DSF) cross country championships at the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy on Thursday 17th May. The Championships are organised by DSF in conjunction with Fife Athletic Club and with support from Kirkcaldy Rugby Club and the Kirkcaldy & District Lions Club. The Championships followed immediately after the Fife Primary Schools Cross Country Championships.

Athletes with additional support needs competed over 500m, 1K, 2K or 3K for individual Fife titles and points towards the Russel Hogg Team Trophy. Balwearie HS won the title with 24 points and Woodmill HS finished runners up with 15 points. Joint third were the pupils from Madras College and Bell Baxter HS with 13 points each. Lochgelly HS, Levenmouth Academy and Glenrothes HS finished in 5th, 6th and 7th positions.

Individual race winners winner were as follows:

500m
Teigon Munro – Rimbleton Primary
Noah Herkes – Pitreavie Primary
Aaliyah Black – Bell Baxter HS
Karen Munro – Balwearie HS
Kerian Cranna – Levenmouth Academy
Christopher Trowel – Glenrothes HS
David King – Balwearie HS

1K
Jenna Richardson – Madras College
Chloe Hutchison – Madras College
Jennifer Grist – Balwearie HS
Nikki Baxter – West Fife CSS
John Simpson – Madras College
Mark Salmond – Woodmill HS
Connor Brown – Woodmill HS
Arran Howe – Bell Baxter HS
Keri McNicol – Burntisland Primary
Leah Ford – Lochgelly HS
Sophie Coughlin – Bell Baxter HS
Garry Patrick – Rimbleton Primary
Luke McGurk – Rimbleton Primary
Ryan Baird – Lochgelly HS

2K
Shantel Cooper – Levenmouth Academy
Louise Ferrier – Levenmouth Academy
Louise Harley – Lochgelly HS
Emma Mason – West Fife CSS
Cieran Dunn – Levenmouth Academy
Edwin Barron – Woodmill HS
Nathan Lee – Madras College
Alex Evans – Balwearie HS
Ryan Spearman – Fife AC

3K
Boys – 1st Josh Gibson Madras Coll 2nd Kieran Beaton Madras Coll 3rd Nathan Orr Madras Coll

Seniors – 1st Owen Miller Fife AC 2nd Sam Fernando Fife AC 3rd Carter Taylor Fife AC

Owen Miller was awarded the Spurs Cup as the outstanding athlete of the championships.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

 

As part of the GOGA in Fife programme, Disability Sport Fife and local partner Outdoor Education Fife provided a one-day adapted cycling training course on Wednesday 16th May at Lochore Meadows Country Park. Only eight places were available for the full day Cycling Scotland nationally recognised adaptive cycle leadership qualification that enables delegates to lead pre risk assessed rides/sessions at an introductory level. GOGA in Fife believes that a high quality education and learning programme will open up increased active recreation opportunities for potential participants with severe and complex needs in particular.

The day ran from 9.30-4.30 at the Outdoor Centre, Lochore Meadows Country Park, and included practical and discussion/ theory sessions. The tutor was Alan Dunlop from Outdoor Education Fife and the delegates came from Levenmouth Academy, Kilmaron School in Cupar, West Fife Community Support Services and Central Fife Community Support Services. All delegates plan to engage those they work with in cycling programmes at the Meadows and other locations across Fife. This is the second of three courses being run during the three year GOGA in Fife project. Thanks to GOGA investment in Fife supported by Spirit of 2012, the course was free to delegates.

On Friday 18th May between 9.30 and 12.30 at Lochore Meadows Country Park, Outdoor Education Fife is offering one half day session primarily for families (but not exclusively) who require an introduction to adapted cycling and would like to experience the range of bikes available at the Park. The session is free to interested parties.

Later in the month and throughout June, July and August, GOGA in Fife will be providing coach support on Saturday mornings to families wishing to engage in inclusive active recreation cycling opportunities at Lochore Meadows Country Park.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

Grangemouth Stadium played host to the annual Forth Valley Disability Sport Junior Athletics Championships on Wednesday 9th May 2018. This year seen FVDS largest ever entry of 267 children and young people from 19 schools in the Forth Valley Area competed in the running, jumping and throwing competitions.

The standard of the competitors was very high as the athletes were not only competing for medals they were also competing to qualify at the Scottish Disability Sport National Junior Athletics Championships to be held at the Grangemouth Stadium on Wednesday 6th June 2018.

All athletes received certificates and Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were presented to 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Well done to all the medal winners for their performances. With many spectators in the stand the event had a fantastic atmosphere for all.

Event Winners were presented with medals by Forth Valley Disability Sport Branch Coordinator Graham Harvey and Scottish Disability Sport Cheryl Lappin

Carrongrange School retained the overall schools trophy with many excellent individual performances and a score of 682, Alva Academy School winning the 2nd place team trophy with 161 points. With Grangemouth High School winning the 3rd place team trophy with 117 points.

Thanks must go to all the Perth University Students. Scottish Athletics officials, Active Stirling, Falkirk Community Trust and Clackmannanshire and Scottish Disability Sport members that helped on the day.

For further information on athletics classes and clubs on offer in your area for children or adults with physical, sensory and learning disabilities please telephone Forth Valley Disability Sport on 01786 466486 or drop us an email.

The Co-op in Crieff has been cutting back on the amount of days it allocates for charity bag packs, but fortunately they did allow our local Strathearn Riding for the Disabled Group known as Rideaway, to do one on the 28th April.

Nine of our volunteers split themselves into morning and afternoon shifts and managed to raise £698 from the wonderful generosity of the people of Crieff and had lots of fun while they did it.

It was not only a good day financially, but also we heard stories from people who had volunteered in the past, heard about progress of people who had ridden with the Group and generally raised the profile of RDA in general.   It also gave us a chance to show off our new gilets with our Rideaway logo on! For further information on the Group’s activities please contact: jane.gourley@hotmail.com.

Pupils from Perth and Kinross schools were offered skiing delivered by Disability Snowsport Scotland (DSS), Glenshee who are all volunteer instructors. This project was made possible by funding secured by Live Active Leisure (LAL) from the Short Breaks Fund (supported by the Scottish Government and distributed by Shared Care Scotland).

Caroline Lawrie, Active Schools Coordinator for the Blairgowrie High School Cluster had identified through consultation with pupils and parents that many young people had never experienced skiing or considered it something they could do. The funding was used to give eight pupils who hav enever had the opportunity to ski, the opportunity to experience a new sport.  All pupils were given 1:1 instruction which was a valuable experience for their first time on snow.

All families were encouraged to attend the sessions in the hope that this would encourage parents to take their child up the slopes. All pupils have benefited from this experience not only from skiing but also getting to the top of the mountain.

Since this project has finished the positive feedback from parents has been amazing.

“My son sometimes struggles with sports activities and has low confidence to the point that he nearly backed out however, he decided to go for it and everyone was so encouraging and positive, putting him at ease and engaging with him.”

“At the beginning of this adventure we were a little afraid of how Wiktoria would get to the top and how she would manage. It was amazing for us how they put Wiktoria with this monoski on the chairlift and everything went very well. The instructors did everything very cleverly and you could see that they have a lot of experience in what they do. Wiktoria had a very good time and she would like to repeat it. For the next week she was still talking about it.  We would like to see her to do this again.”

Wiktoria’s feelings- one of the pupils: “I really enjoyed skiing the last Saturday. I was a little scared at first because I never skied before. As soon as I got geared up and in the mono ski I know that it was going to be a lot of fun. I loved every moment of my lessons.  I got to experience the chair lift and ski down the hill at high speed that I have never experience.  I got to practice same simple turns. I was very happy because I was going very fast. I had a lot falls but even when I felt I was very happy. I hope to come back soon.”

Gill McShea from LAL said: “This project illustrates how working in partnership we can come up with new ways to support young people improve their confidence; their physical and mental health; and achieve their potential through sport.  The backing of the Short Breaks fund has made this pilot possible and allows us to now explore way to create more opportunities for pupils to access snow and other outdoor sports.”

Skiing 2018 Pupils attended:

Group 1	Lee Mudie
	Brandon Knight
	Lewis Acford
Group 2	Cameron Nicoll
Group 3	Harrison Turner
Group 4	Wiktoria Mucha

Next: heading to Snow Factory centre on 30 May…

 

 

Forth Carriage Driving Group for the Disabled have been busy fundraising and partying!

A terrific night was enjoyed by over 100 party people at our ceilidh on Saturday 21 April in the the Victoria Halls, Dunblane, where over £1200 was raised.  The evening was made by the music and dancing to the Fraser MacKinnon Band who kept everyone on their feet (just) and we were even praised for our performance of an Eightsome Reel by the musicians.  Our grateful thanks go to them and our trustee, Penny Goddard, for organising a very successful evening.

The raffle was well supported by individuals and local businesses and our thanks to all who participated as this adds a significant amount to the total figure raised.  Even the ‘shove ha’penny’ was popular and brought the crowd together before finishing with a rendering of Auld Lang Syne.

Our stalwart trustee, Lorraine Hepburn, has been busy spreading the word of our activities and organised a day for local youngsters to meet her ponies and learn about RDA.  Forth Driving Group has since been fortunate to receive donations from Morrisons Supermarket in Airdrie whose staff and customers donated £500 from their Christmas bag-packing activities.  The Airdrie and Coatbridge Round Table ran a Santa Sledge enabling a donation of a further £350 plus an individual donation of £100.  We are hugely grateful to them all for choosing our charity and to Lorraine, for making this happen.

Finally and most recently, thanks go to the ASDA Foundation who donated £200 from their Green Token Scheme over the last three months in the Stenhousemuir store.  The enthusiasm and encouragement from their Community Champion, Leigh-Anne Bridgeman, and the Store Manager Stephen McGowan, made this a worthwhile and enjoyable development to our links with local business.

We are also hugely grateful to others who have contributed recently to our funds.  It costs approximately £150 to run our weekly session and we are working towards the purchase of a new carriage, which will cost close to £10,000.  Thank you again to all our funders and volunteers for your support.

For further information on Forth Driving Group please contact our Chairperson Patsy Muir-Simpson, tel 01786 870351 / email: patsyms@gmail.com