Best Practice

Top 10 tips for… Attracting volunteers in schools

How many people carry out tasks or support activities in your school on a voluntary basis? Having a clear strategy to attract and inspire volunteers from your school community, including your parents and carers, can pay dividends. Suzanne O’Connell offers 10 suggestions
Volunteers: Parents, carers and members of your local community could all be interested in volunteering in your school if the opportunities are right - Adobe Stock

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.

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