The Why Place - Curiosity Academy
Critical Thinking & Curiosity Programme for Children (Ages 7–9)
Location: London, in person
Contract: Sessional, fixed weekly commitment (Monday to Friday, half-days)
Pay: £350 per week
Training: September 2026
Programme duration: 26th October 2026 - 30th October 2026
About The Why Place
The Why Place is a curiosity academy where children learn through immersive quests, big questions and real-world discovery. We create experiences that help children understand themselves, think deeply and stay endlessly curious.
The Role
We’re looking for an experienced educator to become one of our founding Head Facilitators. This role begins with our Autumn 2026 programme, but we’re looking for people who can grow with The Why Place. As we launch new courses and expand our programme, our strongest founding facilitators will have the opportunity to take on ongoing Head Facilitator roles across multiple Why Place programmes, creating the potential for consistent work, greater responsibility and progression within the team.
As Head Facilitator, you are the lead adult in the room. You are responsible for both the quality of the thinking and the quality of the environment children experience.
Our sessions are built around questions rather than conventional topics:
- Is it ever fair to break a promise?
- Where does a thought come from?
- How would standards of beauty change is no one in the world could see?
You’ll work alongside a Junior Facilitator, who helps bring the characters, stories and imaginative world of each session to life. Your role is to hold the intellectual thread underneath it.
That means knowing when to ask one more question; when to challenge an assumption; when a child’s unexpected tangent is worth following; when to bring the group back; and how to make sure quieter children have space to think and contribute.
You are also the senior person responsible when something doesn’t go to plan: whether behaviourally, emotionally or practically. We are therefore looking for someone with genuine experience working with children, strong judgement, warmth and confidence leading a group.
What You’ll Do
- Lead and deliver question-led immersive sessions for groups of children aged 7–9, alongside a Junior Facilitator.
- Hold the intellectual thread of each session, deepening discussion and helping children explore ideas rather than simply arrive at a predetermined answer.
- Ask thoughtful follow-up questions that challenge children to explain their reasoning, consider different perspectives and think further.
- Create a warm, energetic and psychologically safe environment in which every child feels able to participate.
- Take the lead on group management, behaviour, safeguarding awareness and children’s wellbeing during sessions.
- Observe children closely and produce thoughtful individual observations, tracking their reasoning, participation and development over time.
- Adapt your facilitation to individual children, recognising different personalities, confidence levels and ways of thinking.
- Respond confidently when a session takes an unexpected direction, while protecting its underlying learning objectives.
- Brief, support and provide constructive feedback to your Junior Facilitator partner.
- Work closely with the wider Why Place team, sharing observations and helping us continuously improve our programmes.
Who We’re Looking For
Essential
- A strong educational background: such as a degree in education, teaching qualification, or substantial equivalent professional experience within a school, learning or youth-education setting.
- Significant experience working with children in group settings and confidence being the senior responsible adult in the room.
- Excellent facilitation skills: you know how to draw children into a discussion, ask strong questions and make complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying them.
- Warmth, energy and genuine playfulness. We want someone children are excited to see walk through the door: engaging, funny, expressive and visibly passionate and curious themselves.
- A genuine interest in philosophy, psychology and/or how children think, reason and make sense of the world.
- Strong emotional intelligence, sound judgement and the ability to read both individual children and group dynamics.
- The ability to balance structure with responsiveness: following a valuable idea when it emerges without losing sight of the purpose of the session.
- Strong organisation and attention to detail, particularly when producing written observations and meeting deadlines.
- Excellent spoken and written English and a collaborative, reliable approach to working within a team.
Desirable
- Experience mentoring, supervising or developing other educators or staff.
- Experience with Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Philosophy for Children (P4C), enquiry-based learning, Socratic dialogue, tutoring or other discussion-led educational approaches.
- Experience writing developmental reports or individual observations about children.
- Experience within creative, experiential or play-based learning environments.
Safeguarding, Checks & Training
- Enhanced DBS check, including the Children’s Barred List — required. We will help arrange this if you do not already hold one. An existing Enhanced DBS registered with the Update Service is a strong advantage.
- First Aid training — desirable. We can provide this if required.
- Paediatric First Aid — desirable and highly valued.
- Safeguarding / Child Protection training — desirable.
- All Head Facilitators will complete training in The Why Place methodology and Safeguarding before delivering sessions.
Pay & Commitment
- £350 per week.
- Fixed weekly commitment throughout the programme week.
- Sessional contract.
- We are looking for people who would ideally like to grow with The Why Place beyond a single term as the programme expands.
Practical Requirements
- London-based and available to deliver sessions in person.
- Right to work in the UK.
- Able to commit consistently to the agreed weekly programme schedule.
Why Join The Why Place?
You’ll be one of three founding Head Facilitators at The Why Place.
You won’t simply be delivering a finished lesson plan. You’ll be trained in our methodology, trusted with the intellectual and emotional quality of the room, and invited to help us learn from what happens when our programmes meet real children.
As one of our earliest facilitators, your observations and judgement will directly influence how we refine the programme, train future facilitators and define what an exceptional Why Place experience looks like as we grow.