Activity leader CV example
Youth activity roles check your playwork qualification, your DBS certificate and the ratio of children you've led.
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- Sector
- Education
- Template used
- Kickstart
- ATS level
- ATS compatible
- ATS keywords
- 5
Document preview
How the CV looks once laid out
The same example content, laid out in the recommended template: single column, selectable text and no tables or graphics that break automated parsing.
Sample document. Open it in the editor to change template, language and sections without losing the content.
Isla Scott
Qualified activity leader, holiday camps and after-school clubs
Professional summary
Activity leader with five seasons across summer camps, school lunch cover and after-school clubs. I've led groups of up to 25 children aged 6 to 12, plan weekly programmes against learning aims, and hold a current enhanced DBS certificate.
Education
Qualification or certificate for the role
Training centre · Year
Experience
Activity leader
Employer name · City · 2019 – Present
- Led groups of 25 children aged 6 to 12 across five camp seasons
- Planned 12 weekly activity programmes with age-appropriate learning aims
- Resolved behaviour incidents with 100% of families informed the same day
01
Professional headline
This is the line that decides whether they keep reading: a specific role and years of experience, never an adjective.
Qualified activity leader, holiday camps and after-school clubs
02
Example professional summary
Three or four sentences with your specialism, one figure and your goal. It sits right under the headline.
Activity leader with five seasons across summer camps, school lunch cover and after-school clubs. I've led groups of up to 25 children aged 6 to 12, plan weekly programmes against learning aims, and hold a current enhanced DBS certificate.
03
Achievements that work in this role
Past-tense verb, what you did, measurable result. Three to five per role, strongest first.
- 01Led groups of 25 children aged 6 to 12 across five camp seasons
- 02Planned 12 weekly activity programmes with age-appropriate learning aims
- 03Resolved behaviour incidents with 100% of families informed the same day
04
Skills to include
Written as plain text: rating bars are invisible to automated filters.
- Group games and dynamics
- Activity planning
- Cooperative play
- Paediatric first aid
- Behaviour management
- Communication with parents
05
ATS keywords
The terms filters search for in this role. Place them inside your experience, not in a list at the end.
- activity leader
- playwork
- holiday camp
- first aid
- safeguarding
Work them naturally into your experience — these are the terms screening software scans for.
06
Tips for this CV
What separates a CV for this trade from a generic one.
- 01
Put your playwork qualification and DBS status at the top — without them there's no offer.
- 02
Specify ages and group ratios, not just 'working with children'.
- 03
List seasons with dates: continuity counts more than the number of venues.
07
What a activity leader CV is
Short definition, ready to quote.
A activity leader CV is the one or two page document used to apply for a activity leader role in education: it brings together the professional headline, the profile summary, experience with measurable results and the competencies the trade expects you to evidence, such as Group games and dynamics and Activity planning. Unlike a generic CV, it is ordered around what the applicant tracking system and the hiring manager look for in a activity leader: the words used in the advert and the numbers of the actual job.
08
Keywords and where to place them
Each term works best in a specific place in the document. Repeating them all at the end scores nothing.
| Keyword | Where to place it |
|---|---|
| activity leader | In the professional headline |
| playwork | In the profile summary |
| holiday camp | Inside an achievement with a figure |
| first aid | In the skills list |
| safeguarding | In training or certifications |
09
How this activity leader CV gets through the filters
What the example above does right, point by point.
- The headline reads «Qualified activity leader, holiday camps and after-school clubs»: the job title (activity leader) appears literally in the first line, not as a creative synonym.
- The trade's keywords —activity leader, playwork, holiday camp— sit inside the experience and summary, where the filter reads them in context.
- Every achievement carries its figure. «Led groups of 25 children aged 6 to 12 across five camp seasons» is the pattern to copy: volume, timeframe and result.
- Skills such as Group games and dynamics, Activity planning, Cooperative play are written as plain text, never as rating bars or stars, which no parser can read.
- The Kickstart template is two-column with a linear reading order and rated ATS compatible, so the sections come out in order.
10
What hiring managers look for in a activity leader
The three points that separate two candidates in this trade.
Qualification and age groups
A recognised playwork or activity leadership qualification, plus first aid, is what settings screen for. Give the level and year, and the age range you work with.
Group size, ratio and activity type
Give the numbers: participants per group, staffing ratio and type of provision (holiday club, residential, breakfast and after-school club, outdoor centre).
Safeguarding and procedure
Safeguarding level, paediatric first aid, allergen management at mealtimes, risk assessments and incident reporting. With children, this is what decides the hire.
11
Common mistakes on a activity leader CV
The ones that repeat in this role, each with its fix.
- 01
Selling “good with children” with no evidence
Every application says it. What gets hired is ratio, age range and the ability to plan a two-hour session that works — and that is shown with numbers and examples.
- 02
Leaving out background checks and safeguarding
An enhanced background check is a condition of working with children. Saying it is current saves a week of process and shows you know the sector.
- 03
Forgetting session planning
The job is not supervision: it is designing, timing, adapting to age and reviewing. Describe one real session you built, with age, duration, resources and aim.
- 04
No mention of behaviour management
A dispute between children, a distressed participant or a call to a parent is the hard part of the role. One concrete example beats ten adjectives about patience.
12
What a activity leader earns
So you can tell whether an advert is at market rate before applying.
- Usual range
- Typically £11.50-£13.00 an hour for sessional work; residential roles are quoted per week with board included
- What moves the figure
- Most of the sector is sessional or seasonal, so the useful figure is the hourly or weekly rate and whether accommodation and meals are included.
- Where the figure comes from
- Ranges observed in UK playwork and activity leader adverts through 2026.
Frequently asked
Questions about a activity leader CV
- What qualifications do holiday clubs ask for?
- A Level 2 or 3 playwork qualification or equivalent, paediatric first aid and current safeguarding training, plus an enhanced background check. Sports settings often ask for a governing body coaching award instead.
- Is a background check mandatory?
- Yes, an enhanced check against the children's barred list. Arrange it before applying and say it is current on the CV: it is an entry filter, not an extra.
- Does volunteering with youth groups count?
- Very much, because it evidences real session planning and teamwork. Describe it with years, ages and sessions designed, exactly like paid work.
- Which extra training helps most?
- Paediatric first aid, pool lifeguarding where there is water, additional needs training and a coaching award. Each one opens a different type of provision.
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