All kinds of volunteering can make a difference to society, but opportunities like these have community enrichment at their core.

All | Moira | Sharon | Will | Andy | Ray | EmmaM

Thursday Jun 23, 2011

Seeing the difference

Last night I went to my first school governors' meeting in quite a while, after we had to postpone the meeting that was planned for earlier this term.

It has to be said that I really enjoyed it! I said to another governor as we were leaving that it felt like the main difference was that I had been at the preceding full governing body. So, when anyone referred to something that we discussed in the last meeting I was much more readily able to know what we were talking about.

I think the other thing I found particularly inspiring last night was a physical change at the school. Last term we had discussed and approved the installation of two canopies to provide shade for reception and the early years and it was really lifting to see them in place as I walked into the school last night.

These canopies are just a physical example of the pace of genuine change within both this particular school and the educational landscape more generally. We will be having a lot of changes that will be exciting and challenging at the school as we embark on a project that will be large in both scale and effect.

I for one am really looking forward to seeing the gradual transformation over the coming months and years. It seems very clear to me now that this is the reward governors get for their hours spent sitting in meetings!

Posted by Will ( 9:07 AM )
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Saturday Mar 12, 2011

GMHAA (or Getting My Head Around Acronyms)

So, it's official; having been appointed formally appointed at last night's meeting I am now a school governor.

So how do I feel? Well, the really good news is that I'm still very excited about the whole thing. On the other hand, I feel slightly daunted.

Why daunted? Well, daunted by the number of things there are to learn that largely (at the moment) seem like incomprehensible gobbledygook. There's quite a lot of things that I just don't understand, so a lot of question asking and lots of information to be taking in.

Acronyms are a good case in point, something we are all guilty of using, and only realise how reliant we are on them when someone else doesn't follow. I've decided to start an acronym glossary, which is growing quite quickly:

SIP - School Improvement Partner

SDP - School Development Plan

MPSF - Manor Park Soft Federation

SA - School Action

SAP - School Action Plus

BMR - Budget Monitoring Report

HTR - Head Teacher's Report

I could go on, but I'm sure you're getting the point. Suffice to say, I have got a fair few more that I've not included here, which isn't even to mention the one's I already knew.

It seems I've got a lot to learn, about the way education works in this country, let alone about the school itself. But that's one of the great things about so many different forms of volunteering. Not only do I get to do something extremely worthwhile, to give something back, but I also get to learn new skills and gain new knowledge.

One of the beauties of volunteering is that so often we get as much, or even more, out of it than we put in.

Posted by Will ( 8:28 AM )
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Monday Feb 21, 2011

Back to school

Hi! I’m Will and I work at YouthNet, the charity behind Do-it.

I guess I’ve been passionate about volunteering since I was a teenager and over the years have got involved in some of its various different guises. From helping with litter picking and helping run kids clubs on summer projects in my local area to training as a peer supporter and helping with educational outreach while I was a university student, I’ve certainly tried my hand at a range of different types of volunteering.

Now I’m embarking on a whole new voluntary adventure, as I turn my hand to being a school governor at a local primary school. It might not necessarily be what you’d normally think of when you hear the word volunteering – at least I’d imagine that attending meetings and reading documents won’t most people’s typical  image of volunteering – but it is a really crucial and common volunteer role as Do-it’s own feature article about school governors underlines.

You might wonder what it is about being a school governor that appeals to a young, childless man. Well, governing will really combine two of my passions: volunteering and education.  I’ve already been involved in education in a few ways. I’ve (obviously) had my own education at school and uni; I worked at a school when I took a gap year; I was a student member of a governing body at my uni and I spent a year working in widening participation at what would normally be branded an ‘elite’ university, working with school students from year 5 right up to year 13 to encourage those from non-traditional backgrounds to consider applying to the university.

So becoming a school governor just kind of makes sense to me as a voluntary activity (not that you need any educational background at all to be one)

Having said all of that, I guess what really struck me when I first visited the school was how obviously the staff that were present cared. I mean, obviously, you would hope and expect they would. But it did somehow go beyond my expectations. And hearing the pride with which they talk about their school and the work they do to boost the attainment of pupils whose backgrounds are stacked against them was truly inspirational.

I’ve embarked on this journey because I’m passionate about volunteering and about education, but also because I want to get more involved in my local community. The really great news is that in the school I’ve found a community that I suspect I too will proud to be a member of, and that I’m really looking forward to sharing my experience of here on the Do-it blog.

Posted by Will ( 12:33 PM )
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