Thinking about becoming a school volunteer with Dumfries and Galloway Council? Volunteers are key to making life better for all, helping our communities to thrive and learn. It is our ambition to make sure anyone who volunteers for us feels valued, understood and gains a great deal from the experience. We value the contribution of volunteers to our work in schools, leisure and sporting settings, libraries, museums, or elsewhere, you will be making a positive difference.
Why do schools welcome volunteers, and what can volunteering do for you?
- Volunteers can bring a different perspective to our work; often one that reflects the diverse views of the local school community.
- Volunteers can help to extend services that we currently offer.
- Volunteering provides opportunities for skills development.
- Volunteering can be a valuable pathway to employment or training opportunities.
- Volunteering can provide opportunities to meet like-minded people.
- Volunteering can provide an opportunity to be involved with something interesting, absorbing and rewarding.
Who can a be a volunteer?
We know that our volunteers come from all ‘walks-of-life’ and have many, and different reasons for volunteering with us. We will do our best to understand your needs and help to meet them. Equality and diversity is important to us and we want our volunteers to reflect the range of people in our school communities. Parents are our key volunteers.
Volunteers in schools can be parents, employees, representatives of partner organisations and outside agencies, volunteer adult helpers, senior pupils and adult learners.
Volunteers should know exactly what is required, how the task should be done. Due to the differing nature of volunteers the Head Teacher will ensure that the volunteer has been issued with a description of their roles. This will be drawn up in full consultation with the volunteer. This will clearly state:
- The tasks they have agreed to undertake.
- The person to whom they should report.
- Time period.
- Days and times, they will attend.
- An area for signing and dating for both parties.
For more information visit Parental Involvement and Engagement in Dumfries and Galloway.
Support for volunteers
All volunteers will be offered induction training, relevant to their role. This will ensure that volunteers are clear about their role and the aims of the nursery or school. The volunteer will be allowed to attend in service training that is relevant to their role. Volunteers, where possible, may be offered training opportunities along with school staff, as long as there is no cost to the school. This will be at the discretion of the Head Teacher.
The Head Teacher may be the main point of contact/supervisor depending on the setting, however, where this differs, volunteers will be assigned a mentor who will regularly discuss with the volunteer, their progress, and if appropriate, the achievement of any objectives.
Confdentiality is an important issue. Volunteers are expected to ensure confdentiality in respect of information relating to their work. If the duty of confdentiality is found to have been breached, the volunteer will no longer be engaged in school activities. No volunteer will have access to staff or children’s personal records. Volunteers may also be asked to complete a PVG check, depending on the role. The cost of this will be covered by the School. Volunteers will provide a reference from a suitable person (excluding relatives) about their character and suitability for the role if no PVG is required.
Parents as Volunteers
Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing Directorate are keen to promote Parental Involvement and Engagement in our schools, and one way to do this is to promote this through supporting parents as volunteers in schools. Some of these opportunities have been identified as:
- Supporting schools with communication – working on school newsletters, websites or supporting social and celebration events.
- Skills sharing – supporting with pre/post school clubs and activities, careers events, and supporting learning in specialist areas such as supporting classroom reading or library developments, or attending educational visits.
It is important to note that when a parent is volunteering and their own child is present, they should leave matters of discipline to the school staff and should not attempt to discipline their own child.
How to become a volunteer
If you would like to volunteer in your local school, you should contact the school office, leaving your details.
The Headteacher, or their depute will invite potential volunteers for an informal conversation. Following this, applicants will be informed, in a timely manner whether the match is considered suitable. There may be many reasons why volunteers are not recruited; for those who are not successful, feedback will be given. If a match is not considered suitable by either side, individuals will be offered the opportunity to discuss the outcome and explore alternatives. In the absence of suitable matches, volunteers can be referred to a more appropriate volunteering situation through Dumfries and Galloway Council, or to Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway as the experts in volunteer placement.
Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing Directorate
Tel: 030 33 33 3000
Email: Parentcarer@dumgal.gov.uk
