Announcing the vInspired Schools campaign

vInspired are set to recruit and engage secondary schools and their students across the country.

There is a huge opportunity to engage young people within the school environment. By reaching school children in the place where they spend most of their time, and giving them opportunities to get involved and make the world a better place, we will be able to create a new generation of changemakers… with a passion for doing good.

As the largest youth volunteering organisation in the country, we have a wealth of experience in supporting young people in volunteering. We want to work with schools to provide students with volunteering opportunities that are credible, supported and easy to take part in. These opportunities will give 11-18 year olds the confidence to explore their talents and gain a variety of skills that will help them in both their academic and personal development.

Resources

Schools who have signed up to the scheme will recieve a range of free, flexible tools to support them in the schools environment. These include:

• Launch materials, including an information film, assembly presentation and posters to get students excited about participating in the programme.

• PSHE, ICT and Citizenship lesson plans, student activity sheets and creative ideas to help encourage curriculum-linked volunteering, plus cross-curricular activities which can be used across year-groups and subject areas.

• Lesson plans, student activity sheets and creative ideas to support school learning around Enterprise, Careers & Employability, Behaviour Management and Community Building.

• Coordinators helping schools to implement the programme in a way that suits them

• Opportunity to gain recognition for students’ outstanding volunteering efforts through the vInspired Awards.

• Simple and secure digital platform which connects students with volunteering opportunities and provides you with tools to manage and monitor progress.

• All vInspired Schools will be part of a special network of teachers and benefit from ideas and inspiration through newsletters and social media providing opportunities to share best practice.

What we have learned

Of the young people we have worked with, 92% say volunteering has improved their confidence, 88% are more motivated, 90% felt they had increased their chances of finding work, and 79% said they were more likely to get involved in other aspects of their community life.

Recent research commissioned by vInspired found that:

1. The two main barriers to 11-12 year olds not considering volunteering is due them not being aware of how to get involved or how to get started.

2. Schools are where 11 – 14 year olds are most likely to participate in volunteering and social action.

vInspired Schools aims to bring all the benefits of volunteering to school age young people while addressing the findings on barriers to getting involved and the best environment for young people to participate. We want to enable young people to realise their potential by learning the value of doing good things for themselves and for others.

To kick off the programme we have 100 places available. Our plans are to continue to grow so all UK schools have the opportunity to get involved. To register your interest visit this registration page.