Volunteers

Introduction

Volunteers at our school bring with them a range of skills and experience that can enhance the learning opportunity of children at our school.  We welcome and encourage volunteers from the local community.

Our volunteers include:

  • Members of the Governing Body
  • Friends of Broomhill (PTA)
  • Parents of pupils
  • Members of the local community
  • Ex-members of staff
  • Ex-pupils
  • Students on work experience
  • Local residents 

The types of activities that volunteers are engaged in include:

  • Hearing children read
  • Working with small groups of children
  • Working alongside individual children
  • Accompanying school visits
  • Resourcing of activities
  • Fundraising activities

Becoming a volunteer

Anyone wishing to become a volunteer, usually approaches a class teacher, headteacher or office manager directly.

Volunteers are required to complete an application form and sign the school’s Volunteer Agreement.  If working directly with children, the school will seek DBS clearance for any volunteer before they come into school.

Confidentiality

Volunteers in school are bound by a code of confidentiality.  Any concerns that volunteers have about the children they work with or come into contact with should be voiced with the class teacher and NOT with the parents of the child or anybody outside of school.  If it is a comment which a child makes which gives rise to concerns then the headteacher should be informed immediately.

Comments regarding children’s behaviour or learning can be highly sensitive and if taken out of context can cause distress to the parents of a child if they hear about such issues through a third party rather than directly from the school.  Volunteers who are concerned about anything another adult in the school says or does should raise the matter with the headteacher.

Supervision

All volunteers work under the supervision of the class teacher of the class to which they are assigned. Teachers retain responsibility for children at all times, including the children’s behaviour and the activity they are undertaking.

Volunteers will be given clear guidance from the teacher as to how an activity is carried out and what the expected outcome of an activity is.  Volunteers are encouraged to seek further advice and guidance from the teacher in the event of any query or problem regarding the children’s understanding of a task or behaviour.

Health & Safety

The school has a Health & Safety Policy and this is made available to volunteers on request.  During induction, volunteers are made aware of emergency procedures (e.g. fire alarm evacuation) and class teachers ensure volunteers are clear about any safety aspects associated with a particular task (e.g. using DT equipment; accompanying children on visits).  Volunteers need to exercise due care and attention and report any obvious hazards or concerns to the class teacher, office manager or headteacher.

Child Protection

The welfare of our children is paramount. To ensure the safety of our children, we adopt the following procedures:

  • All volunteers are given a copy of the Policy for Volunteers in School, which we expect all volunteers to read and understand.
  • All volunteers are expected to maintain the attitude of 'It could happen here.' Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. When concerned about the welfare of a child, everyone should always act in the best interests of the child.
  • Volunteers working directly with children (unsupervised) must be cleared by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and proof in the form of a certificate and unique number is required.
  • Where a volunteer is engaged in a ‘one-off’ activity (e.g. helping to supervise a group of children as part of a class visit), no formal checks are carried out; however, we do aim to carry out DBS checks on people who may volunteer with us more than once.  These volunteers will be under constant supervision of school staff and must read and sign our Off-Site Visit Agreement.
  • All volunteers must know who are our Designated Safeguarding Leads are (Mr. J Smith, Mrs. E. Haves and Mrs. K. Palmer). If a volunteer has concerns about the Headteacher, the contact details for the Chair of Governors is available on our Governor page of the website, or can be obtained from the school office.

Complaints Procedure

Any complaints made about a volunteer will be referred to the headteacher for investigation. Any complaints made by a volunteer will be referred to the headteacher.

The headteacher reserves the right to take the following action:

  • To speak with a volunteer about any complaints about the volunteer or any breach in the Volunteer Agreement
  • To speak with a volunteer about any breach in confidentiality
  • Offer an alternative placement for a volunteer, e.g. helping in another class
  • Inform the volunteer that the school no longer wishes to use them
  • The full complaints procedure is available from the headteacher