School Engagement & Catchment Partnership Officer

Job Title: School Engagement & Catchment Partnership Officer
Purpose: To deliver two main activities: Running LRT’s school engagement project, running the Living Lune catchment partnership.
Reports to: Trust Manager
Location: Hybrid. Working from home and from LRT’s office near Kirkby Lonsdale. Arrangements are flexible, with the general aim to be working from the office 2-3 days per week. Frequent site work will be required at locations across LRT’s operational area. Occasional meetings in the northwest region.
Hours: Full-time 37.5 hours per week. Flexible working hours.
Salary: £26,453 pA
Contract: 12-month fixed term contract (with potential to extend)

The Lune Rivers Trust is a small but ambitious environmental charity dedicated to the protection and enhancement of rivers and tributaries in the Lune catchment. We cover a large area, from Tebay in the north, to Ingleton in the east and Pilling in the south.

We have received funding from United Utilities and Defra to support our school engagement and catchment partnership work. The post of School Engagement & Catchment Partnership Officer will run these two activities, building on our previous work. We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic person to join our team and to run these activities.

Catchment Partnership

LRT hosts the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) partnership for the Lune catchment, called the Living Lune Partnership. More information about CaBA can be found here: catchmentbasedapproach.org. It is a partnership of organisations that are active in the Lune catchment and who can influence what happens to the rivers. The partnership aims to be a forum where issues affecting the local rivers can be raised and potential solutions discussed. We have run the Living Lune Partnership for 12 years. Catchment partnerships play an important role, as highlighted in the recent Cunliffe report. This is an important and exciting time for the partnership as we continue to refresh the way the partnership works, to develop an updated catchment management plan and to be ready to take on a wider remit.

School Engagement

In 2024 we launched a new project to engage with a number of schools (mainly primary schools) in our catchment. We did this through a programme of ‘Eels in the Classroom’ where we helped the schools nurture juvenile eels. We assisted teachers to use caring for the eels as a vector for teaching the pupils about environmental issues. At the end of the term, the eels were released into a nearby river. The second component to this project was to help develop teaching materials for environmental education using the local context. We want to build on the success of this work to expand the reach and scope of the project and engage with more schools. The School Engagement & Catchment Partnership Officer will lead on developing and delivering our school engagement.

We operate a flexible working hours/ Time Owed in Lieu system. We also work a mixture of based from home, based from our office near Kirkby Lonsdale, and on site across our catchment. Arrangements are flexible, with the general aim to be in the office 2-3 days per week.

We believe that this role lends itself to either a full-time basis or a job-share/ part-time basis. If you would like to explore the job-share/ part-time option, please mention this clearly in your application.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Living Lune Partnership

• Organise and run quarterly meetings of the Living Lune Partnership (part of the Catchment Based Approach partnership network).
• Establish, and maintain trusted working relationships with members of the partnership.
• Establish and maintain a trusted working relationship with the Environment Agency’s Catchment Coordinator assigned to the Lune catchment.

School Engagement Project

• Develop and deliver the ‘Eels in the Classroom’ component of the project.
• Develop and deliver the teaching materials/ resources component of the project.
• Lead engagement/ education walks with schools.

PERSON DESCRIPTION

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate that they are exceptionally self-motivated and are passionate about improving the environment. They must be an excellent communicator and enthusiastic about continuing to develop their knowledge and skills.

Essential

• Prior experience in engagement or running partnerships, or an academic background in one or both.
• Excellent communicator.
• Ability to foster partnership working.
• Ability to understand the environmental sector.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the environmental sector in general, and rivers in particular.
• Experience of running partnerships.
• Lives in, or is relocating to, the Lune catchment.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the post, please contact Tim Pitt (Trust Manager) on 079 49 24 26 55 or [email protected].

Closing date for applications: Midnight 31st August 2025.