NSPCC Schools Service Volunteer: Speak Out. Stay Safe.

We're the UK's leading children’s charity, specialising in child protection and dedicated to protecting children today to prevent abuse tomorrow. We’re the only UK children’s charity with statutory powers, which means we can take action to safeguard children at risk of abuse. We’ve been protecting children for over 100 years.

Over the last 5 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, volunteers and staff, we helped to make more than 6.6 million children safer from abuse. We’ve developed new services to help families, campaigned to change laws, shared information about abuse and how to recognise it, and developed new tools for children, parents and professionals.

We work with schools, providing our Speak Out Stay Safe safeguarding programme to an amazing 90% of Primary schools, as well as training and consultancy services and a range of other lesson resources and information to support schools. We also provide therapeutic services and support for children and families and conduct groundbreaking research and campaign for change. We offer national helplines to offer advice and support for anyone worried about a child and our Childline service provides support and advice to children and young people, 365 days a year.

Locations: Throughout Berkshire.

Time commitment: Volunteering takes place on weekdays during school hours and during term time. There is a minimum commitment of two school visits per month.

What we’re looking for: We need people to help us protect a generation of children from abuse and neglect. As a Speak out. Stay safe. volunteer, you will visit primary schools to deliver Speak out. Stay safe. workshops to children in Years 2, 5 and 6 that teach children about the different types of abuse and how they can speak out and stay safe.

What you’ll do: Our Speak out. Stay safe. workshops are age-appropriate and memorable and need an energetic and enthusiastic person to deliver them to primary school children in Years 2, 5 and 6. You'll work alongside other Speak out. Stay safe. volunteers to make sure that at the end of each session the children feel empowered and know who they can speak out to if they are worried.

In some sessions children may speak up and disclose abuse, so you will also be required to sensitively handle this and report any concerns you have about the child. But don't worry you'll get plenty of support and training on this.

What you’ll get: When you volunteer with us, you'll get lots of initial training which includes practice sessions, home-study and multiple visits to schools to help you learn the workshop materials. When you start delivering the sessions, support will be on offer from both your supervisor and other experienced volunteers.

You'll also get the opportunity to learn new skills, be a part of a friendly team of like-minded people and most importantly make a huge difference to children within your local area.

What we’ll need from you: Signing up to be a school service volunteer, is a very rewarding role but it's also a big commitment, which requires a lot of training and you will need to deliver a minimum of two school visits every month.

We’ll also need to do some routine safeguarding checks, including an enhanced criminal record check and at least two satisfactory references with at least one covering a period of five years or more with no gaps. It’s nothing to worry about, and we can answer any questions you have about this.

Who’s right for the role? While we think this role is suitable for a whole range of people, we are particularly looking for those with the following qualities and experience:

• Passionate about helping children and young people
• Great communication skills
• Empathetic and perceptive
• Sensitive and supportive
• Able to think on your feet
• Work well within a team

For this role, we can only accept people over the age of 16.

Interested in getting involved? Please contact the Volunteer Recruitment Team at VolunteerRecruitment@NSPCC.org.uk or call 0121 227 7577.

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults. Registered charity number – 216401.