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

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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