We were delighted to receive a certificate recently from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, as an acknowledgement of our pupils volunteering in the local community. These pupils completed 650 hours of volunteering that DofE recognised the value of, at £2827.50
We are thoroughly delighted with their achievements and have asked Mrs Hampton to explain more about how volunteering works as part of the DofE award, in RSD.
Volunteering as part of the DofE award
“Volunteering gives young people the chance to make a difference to people’s lives and use the skills and experience to help our local community. The pupils can use this opportunity to become involved in a project or with an organisation that they care about and as such the opportunities are wide and varied. DofE gives programme ideas for the volunteering section under five headings and we are proud to say that we have pupils taking part in most of the areas listed. The five areas are as follows with examples of pupils taking part:
- Helping people such as children, older people of those with special needs. Thomas Burns completed Youth Work for St Anne’s Church. Jim Lam volunteered at Dungannon Youth Club.
- Community Action and Raising awareness such as drug awareness, road safety or change makers.
- Coaching, Teaching and Leadership such as Girls and Boys Brigade, Scouts or St John’s Ambulance or coaching rugby, hockey and badminton.
This is the area that most of our volunteering falls into, with so many youth organisations linked to local churches and with opportunities to help in coaching, both within and outside school. Examples include Anna Gamble – BB, Ellen Kirkland – Sunday school teaching, Abbie Graham – Girls Friendly Society, Matthew McNeil – Beavers, Matthew Hall – Scouts, Joanne Shaw – Year 8 Hockey at RSD and Jordan Tait – football coaching at Annagh Football Club, Armagh. - Working with the environment or animals. Logan McIlravie volunteers at Wildlife Trust to protect abandoned huskies.
- Helping a charity or community organisation. Cherith Robinson and Marie Li both volunteered at the Marie Currie Cancer shop in Dungannon town.
This year alone our pupils have completed over 650 hours of volunteering, helping them complete both Gold and Silver Awards. Our pupils are involved in a variety of exciting work right across the Dungannon area and beyond. We are very proud of their amazing contribution to the local community and we know that in giving up their time and skills, these young people also improve their own mental and physical wellbeing. These pupils are all making an incredible difference in our community and we are immensely proud of them. Well done.”
RLH
You must be logged in to post a comment.