Volunteering
Volunteering at Milton Park Primary School
Here at Milton Park we are very lucky to welcome family, community and reading volunteers from the Schoolreaders charity, and Portsmouth Hive to our classes. They are a highly valued resource and are always very popular as the children really enjoy their visits and very much look forward to seeing and reading with them.
A volunteer’s time can be enough to transform a child’s reading ability ensuring that they are able to get the most out of their education and enabling them to explore new worlds of knowledge, inspiration, creativity and fun.
Join us and make a difference to a child’s life!
What’s required to become a school volunteer?
If you have some time to spare and if you enjoy spending time with children, you could join our volunteering team at Milton Park.
Our volunteers get enormous pleasure from seeing the difference that a few hours time can make to a child’s reading ability, confidence and enjoyment.
Getting Started
To start with, you need to contact Mrs Middleton who is responsible for volunteers in school. You can email admin@miltonparkprimaryschool.co.uk or catch her on the playground! She’ll contact you to find out more about which age range you are interested in supporting and where you would like to focus your volunteering e.g., 1:1 reading or in the classroom.
Usually, you will be given a tour of the school, start the process of your DBS check, and meet staff and children. You will need to attend a short induction meeting and do some safeguarding training before starting.
Alternatively, you can also start volunteering through two charities which support the school: School Readers and HIVE Portsmouth. Details can be found on the links below.
Will I receive training?
You will receive school policies and some ‘Top Tips’ for reading with children when you start. You will be invited to a training session (at least once a year) where you’ll be updated on safeguarding, reading strategies and classroom support.
The training session doubles up as a tea party and is a nice way to meet fellow volunteers over a cup of tea and a scone!
In what ways can I volunteer?
• Helping with English (typically listening to children read)
• Helping in the classroom
• Sharing your professional skills (for example, if you’re a doctor, you might go in to talk to a class whose topic is healthy living)
• Helping with classroom activities such as cookery
• Helping to lead an after-school club like netball or gardening
• Helping on school trips
• Helping with sporting events, music or drama productions
Turning Volunteering into a career
Many volunteers help out in schools as a way of getting their foot in the door for any vacancies that might arise, and this can indeed be a good way into working in schools. Many of our excellent teaching assistants started their journey at Milton Park as volunteers.