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Information for Schools

The Volunteering in Schools Programme places University of Warwick student volunteers in schools in the local area - Coventry, Leamington, Kenilworth and Warwick.

The programme enables volunteers to experience life in the classroom first hand and their involvement is entirely voluntary. Some of our volunteers are considering a future career in teaching, whilst others are keen to share their subject knowledge and expertise with younger learners. Whatever their reason may be for volunteering they are all enthusiastic, committed and keen to support your pupils to succeed and achieve.

There are many ways that your school can get involved and it is all free of charge.

Please note that student volunteers are NOT trainee teachers. The volunteers will be able to assist class teachers, not conduct lessons themselves.

Schools that accept student volunteers should ensure that these volunteers receive adequate supervision on school premises. Students have volunteered to support teachers in the classroom and should remain under the supervision of a teacher at all times.

The Student Tutoring project enables student volunteers to offer their time and skills to classroom teachers in a variety of subjects in primary, secondary and SEN schools. Volunteers commit to weekly sessions in schools and assist in a variety of ways - supporting the teacher and pupils in the class, assisting small group activities and / or one to one support.

The Right to Read project offers student volunteers the opportunity to provide primary school pupils with additional reading support on a one to one basis. Volunteers are not expected to teach pupils how to read, but to work with them to help improve their confidence and increase their ability through reading support. Our school partners are requested to select the pupil/s that require the additional support and whom they believe will benefit most from the experience. Volunteers will support these pupil/s for the duration of the scheme.

The Language Tutoring project offers MFL support for local primary and secondary schools. Volunteers are placed in MFL lessons or after school clubs and will offer support with vocabulary, reading and writing.

The Fun with Numbers volunteers work with primary school pupils who require additional support with their basic maths skills.

A small group of volunteers will attend for an hour a week and play fun maths board games with small groups of pupils. The sessions can take place during lesson time or during the lunch break.

The Technology Volunteers deliver technology based Scratch and Arduino workshops in schools.

The Scratch workshops help to teach pupils basic programming skills. Using Scratch children develop their programming skills in a fun and exciting way.

The Arduino workshops aim to teach the key basics of micro controller programming to school pupils.

The Language Register matches pupils who are new to the UK and require additional support with their English language skills with a volunteer who speaks the same native language. The volunteer will support the pupil to help them settle into their new life in the UK. Requests for Language Register can be made as required throughout the year.

All of the Volunteering in Schools projects take place throughout the University Spring term.

All volunteers are required to commit to a minimum of one hour per week for ten weeks throughout the Spring term only.

Some volunteers may wish to continue their volunteering placement with you into the Easter vacation period and term three - this is dependent upon their individual availability.

Induction meeting

We encourage schools who are participating in the programme to arrange an induction meeting for the volunteers placed with you prior to volunteering commencing.

This meeting is an opportunity for the volunteers to familiarise themselves with the schools and meet the teacher/s that they will be working with. It also provides an opportunity to discuss the placement in more detail, agree a set day and time and answer any questions that yourself or the volunteers may have. The volunteers will contact you to arrange this. Where there are several volunteers placed in your school, I would advise arranging a group meeting with them at a time to suit. I can assist you with the arrangements for this and will liaise with the volunteers to confirm their availability. I have included an Induction Meeting Checklist for you.

Preparing to volunteer

All of our volunteers attend project specific training before commencing their volunteering placement in school. These sessions include general information about their chosen project, what will be expected of them whilst they are in school, communicating with pupils, classroom conduct and information re placement availability.

Safeguarding

All volunteers also complete a separate mandatory Safeguarding children module before commencing their volunteering placement.

DBS Disclosure

All of our student volunteers involved with weekly projects in schools will undergo an enhanced DBS check before commencing their placement in January.

Certificate of Good Conduct

Warwick Volunteers requires all volunteers who have not been resident in the UK for the previous five years to also obtain the equivalent of a DBS Disclosure from the country in which they have been resident - more information re COGC

For more information please see Warwick Volunteers Screening Policy

If you have any questions or queries re any aspect of the Volunteering in Schools Programme please contact me.

Schools Contact

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