Volunteers are often an indispensable part of the primary school team and the opportunities volunteering provides can be mutually beneficial. So how can we encourage, support and recognise our volunteers?
1, Recruiting volunteers
Advertise regularly the vacancies you have for voluntary roles and offer the opportunity for people to suggest other ways in which they could volunteer in capacities you might not have thought of.
A reminder in a newsletter at the beginning of term and perhaps a drop-in or meeting opportunity to talk-through the options could be arranged.
2, Who co-ordinates your volunteers?
It may be that your volunteers are organised separately depending on who they are working with and in which area. However, do consider appointing someone to coordinate their roles. This person could be charged also with building momentum for the recruiting campaign and overseeing their work generally. This has many advantages, including allowing you to allocate strategically individuals who are keen to help based on the amount of time they have available and skills they can offer.
3, What would you like them to do?
Take time to draw-up a list of the different roles and opportunities there are for volunteers in your school. This shouldn’t be about replacing paid members of staff, and this should be made clear. Your interest lies in providing additional support in or out of school that would not be possible without them. It is also helpful to include a brief summary of what each role entails, how much time it requires, and who the first point of contact is.
Don’t rule-out people who can’t volunteer during the day. You may well have jobs that can be done at home or one-off tasks. For example, backing books, preparing display materials, or putting together story sacks. Other roles may require more time in the community. For example, you might have parent representatives attached to a class who can help liaise between parents and school.
Some parents are more comfortable making one-off voluntary contributions than a regular commitment. Help with school visits is often of interest as it can be enjoyable for the parent too.
4, Checking them out
I do not need to tell you that there are safeguarding requirements that apply to any adult engaged in the school, whether they are on the payroll or not. Make sure that you have completed the necessary checks including an enhanced DBS check for those working in a regulated activity. Some volunteer roles may also require a check against the barred list.
For those helping at a one-off event who are supervised, the checks are at the school’s discretion. However, seeing as it is likely that the same people will continue to volunteer on other occasions then it makes sense to complete one anyway.
In order to decide whether to carry out an enhanced DBS check you should complete a risk assessment first. DBS checks must be recorded on your school’s Single Central Record.
5, Keeping them informed
Your volunteers will need much the same information as members of staff, not least the dates of the school year, information about special events and so on.
You might want to put together an information leaflet with the basic procedures that volunteers need to be aware of. This might include:
- Security, including entering and exiting the building and fire drills.
- Letting the school know if they can’t attend.
- What to do about refreshments.
- Basic guidance on working with children in the classroom.
- Ways in which they can help.
- Code of conduct.
If you do organise a meeting at the beginning of the year to bring your helpers together then some of this information can be covered then.
6, Confidentiality
This can be an issue with adults from the local community and you will need to stress at the earliest opportunity the importance of confidentiality over anything they may see and hear. This also applies to members of staff working alongside your volunteers. Early career teachers, in particular, might need some support and advice on how to work sensitively with members of the community.
7, Volunteer organisations
In most cases your volunteers will be friends and family of the pupils in your school. However, there are organisations that recruit volunteers to carry out specific roles. Schoolreaders, for example, recruit local people to carry out one-to-one reading sessions in primary schools and schools can register with them by filling in a registration form.
8, Saying thank you
Those working directly with the volunteers will be able to thank them informally, but you might want to go further and arrange an annual event such as a celebration to formally show your appreciation. This is also a good opportunity for volunteers to meet with one another and perhaps make friendships with new people in the local community. By talking with others who help in school they can also discover new ways of volunteering that might be of interest to them.
9, What next?
Some of your volunteers will be more than happy just to provide their time and enjoy the reward of contributing to their local school. Others, however, may see this as a stepping stone perhaps to employment in the future. Do consider how you can help them with this including by drawing attention to vacancies for support staff and teaching assistants when they arise. There may also be courses and training and development opportunities locally that some of your helpers might be able to tap into.
10, Unlikely volunteers
Do not automatically dismiss those who don’t immediately match your ideal image of a volunteer. The challenging parent can be just the right one to bring onside through their involvement in the school. Volunteering in a specific capacity can be an eye-opener for them and you may find that after a few months they go from being a challenging parent to your greatest advocate.
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/suzanne-oconnell
Further information & resources
- Schoolreaders: www.schoolreaders.org/becoming-a-partner-school