CSV, the UK’s largest volunteering charity, will publish a report today (Wednesday 22 November) on how volunteering can help schools play a leading role in supporting and protecting young people and ensuring they reach their full potential. 
 
As part of the vision outlined in the Government’s Every Child Matters schools are being encouraged to provide a range of services and activities, often beyond the school day, to help meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community. The Government is looking to achieve this in all schools by 2010.
 
CSV’s Director of Education, Peter Hayes, says: “The reforms embodied by Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004 point strongly to the wider involvement of families and communities in the overall development of young people. Increased citizenship through volunteering provides a way for making this work effectively. The voluntary sector is already experienced in delivering services that include the mentoring of young people by adults and pupil participation in their communities through active citizenship programmes within schools.”
 
Amongst the recommendations, the report calls for:
 
1) The Government to support the provision of good quality volunteering experiences in schools and during the extended school day.

2) Volunteers to be he included as partners in providing local services to children and young people.

3) The standards for volunteer involvement in schools to be directly comparable to those expected for professionals.
 
Case Studies:
 
Taulant Tahiri, aged 16 and originally from Kosovo has lived in the UK for 4 years. He now lives with a foster family in South London and goes to the sixth-form at George Green’s School on the Isle of Dogs, where he is also a CSV Millennium Volunteer conflict resolution volunteer.
 
Taulant says: “I volunteer each lunchtime on the playground making sure that the younger pupils at the school don’t get into fights and get back into class on time. I think they listen to me because I know what it is like to lose my temper and get into trouble. When I first came to the school I didn’t speak any English and would get the ‘mickey’ taken out of me. I had a lot of trouble with some Asian lads even though I was Muslim too. I would get frustrated and get into fights. I would also hang out late at night on the streets and not come back home ‘til two in the morning.
 
“I remember looking up to older pupils who were volunteering and saw how they could control themselves and wouldn’t swear or lose their temper. I decided that I wanted to be like them. I think some people are shocked to see how much I have changed. The younger pupils look up to me and I am now usually at home by 8 in the evening. Now my ambitions are to do well at school get my A-levels and join the CID.”
 
Jonas Rathfelder, aged 19 and from Germany, is a CSV full-time volunteer at Callington Community College in Cornwall.

Jonas says: “I support the school’s Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship Departments. I give talks on Germany, the EU and international issues. I think it extremely important in this day and age that school pupils meet and learn about people from other countries.

“I also get involved in small group sessions to help students with their work. Through the class the pupils also get involved in active citizenship and volunteering at local hospitals and old people’s homes.

“Volunteering at the college has been brilliant, it was hard at first to leave my family and friends in Germany but I quickly got to know people, which really helped.  It has been interesting to see the different cultural attitudes towards education between my country and here. In Germany if you don’t want to work hard then that’s your loss, but in the UK the teacher always push you to study. Another difference is that the school feels responsible for their pupils even when they have gone home for the day.”

Download: 'New perspectives on volunteering in schools'

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Further press information or to register to attend: Jason Tanner, Head of Press on 020 7812 0038 / 07941 433598 or jtanner@csv.org.uk or Paul Donohoe, Senior Press Officer on 020 7812 0037 pdonohoe@csv.org.uk
Latest press releases: www.csv.org.uk/press
 
 
Notes for editors:
 
1)    CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 195,000 people give 4.9 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. CSV trains 11,500 people of all ages and a further 4,000 as part of its media programme. www.csv.org.uk

2)    Every Child Matters: Change for Children is a new approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19. The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. The intention is that the organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups - will team up in new ways to share information and work together, to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life. http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/aims/