Deputy Chair, Board of Trustees

ROLE PURPOSE

Skylarks are recruiting a Deputy Chair to the Board with a view that this individual would shadow the current Chair, take on a committee leadership role and transition into the Chair role at the end of the calendar year 2022.

The current board of trustees have the skills needed to support the Deputy in their new role and will be invaluable to the success of the position. The current board members are well established and have supported the rapid growth of the charity over the last year years. The current Chair remains committed to serving on the board past 2022 in a Director level capacity, however not in this leadership role due to terms served. 

The purpose of the Deputy Chair is to provide leadership and direction to the Board of Trustees. The Deputy Chair aims to enable the board to fulfil its responsibilities for the overall governance and strategic direction of Skylarks.

The Deputy Chair works with the other Trustees and the Managing Director to ensure that the organisation complies with its legal duties, makes sure that the organisation pursues its objectives as defined in its governing document and that it develops and achieves its strategic objectives ensuring that the Charity has maximum impact for its beneficiaries. 

The Deputy Chair supports, and, where appropriate, challenges the Managing Director to ensure staff are supported to help them achieve the aims of the organisation and optimise the relationship between the board of Trustees and the staff. 

He or she will act as an ambassador and the public face of the charity in partnership with other Trustees, the Managing Director and other senior managers in the Charity.

ABOUT SKYLARKS

At Skylarks, our vision is to help create a world where children with additional needs can thrive. 

We aspire to achieve this vision by enabling every child and young person with additional needs to live their best life while supporting everyone whose lives they touch. 

Skylarks provide a supportive and active community. We care for the whole family, providing opportunities to join in, develop and feel empowered. We want to remove the isolation that can be created for families and their children who have a disability or additional needs. We are based in Richmond upon Thames but have an open-door policy. Anyone, from anywhere, is welcome!

The charity was originally founded as Me too & Co by a group of parent volunteers in 2006 to fill a gap in the local community where there was a lack of support. In April 2019, we rebranded and officially changed our name to Skylarks Charity (or Skylarks for short). Most recently we have been awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in recognition of the wonderful team of dedicated volunteers we have supporting our cause and won The National Diversity Award for Community Organisation.

OUR IMPACT

Over 4000 families and 3500 children have now registered to use our services and the list is growing! Over the past 10 years, the organisation has continued to grow. We have expanded from first providing inclusive play sessions to now offering a wide range of therapies and services that are often otherwise inaccessible to families. These include services such as hydrotherapy, counselling, inclusive activities like drama and karate, and free advice for Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Our independence as a charity means we can develop our programme in line with the needs of our families; something that has always been and remains important to us. We do not apply for or receive any statutory funding from the government or local authorities.

OUR AIMS

• We aim to support children with any disability and additional needs. Helping to reduce the impact that this can have on their access to activities and their wider life experiences.  We aim to remove the exclusion that families can feel. This can develop from being unable to access mainstream services due to a lack of understanding, facilities or knowledge. We aim to offer support to the whole family. Supporting siblings, parents and carers, making sure they are provided with therapy, advice, information and services to empower them as advocates and to improve their quality of life.