Would you volunteer to tutor disadvantaged young people?

[claireclaire]

Hello all

I just wanted to float an idea here and see what the response is, please.

I work as a part-time tutor for London Borough of Lewisham, tutoring young people in foster care. The kids I see are usually aged between 14 and 16, and are preparing for their GCSEs. However, they tend to be from very underprivileged backgrounds, and their academic level is far below what you would expect for their age and school level.

Many of the young people (yp) I have tried to teach have been unreceptive. In some cases, I have only seen the yp for a couple of sessions, before s/he is moved to another placement, or, occasionally, is taken into custody because of criminal activity. These cases are very sad.

But sometimes it happens that I encounter a student who is keen to learn, and actually wants me to stay longer and teach them more. Also, I've had students who are really shockingly behind (e.g difficulty with basic arithmetic operations at the age of 15), but who are quiet and receptive, and I am convinced they would benefit from intensive one-to-one support. HOWEVER, the problem is that they only get 2 hours of tutoring per week. For these yp, I would gladly offer them extra tutoring time for free, just because it is so rewarding to see how such a little effort on my part can make such a big difference to a young person from such a disadvantaged background.

I'm thinking about setting up an informal volunteer scheme, so as to offer these young people access to more tutoring support. I'm hoping there are other people in Sydenham who might be willing to offer a couple of hours a week to help a young person with, say, basic maths or simple reading and comprehension? It is the sort of support that many of us would give to our own children on a regular basis, which these children have not had the good fortune to benefit from.

I haven't worked out any details on this yet: at this point I am just trying to assess whether others would be willing in principle to volunteer. One obvious thing to point out, I suppose, is that any volunteers would have to be willing to have a Criminal Records Bureau check (CRB), which costs about £30.

If you think you might be interested in participating in such a scheme, please send me a PM.

Many thanks,
Claire

[forumnewbe]

Hi Claire,

I would be very interested in volunteering but won't be available until after Christmas. I have done some similar work but not for over 10 years. Please let me know if I can help nearer that time.

Thanks

[judi_coven]

Hi there, I'd be interested in helping, preferably during the normal school day whilst my own kids are at school. I often work evenings and weekends, so it would be tougher for me to help out then.
Judith
judi_coven@yahoo.co.uk

[claireclaire]

Hello forumnewbe and judi_coven,
thanks for your replies, I have sent you each a PM.
I have had several other responses to this post already which is very encouraging. Basically what I will do for the moment is keep a list of potential volunteers, and then speak to my boss about this idea in September when school starts back again.
In the meanwhile, if anyone else would like to contact me about this, please do send me a PM.
Many thanks
Claire

[SydenhamStokie]

Hi Claire,
I have sent you a PM, and am posting here simply because my account will be removed if I don't post something within seven days of joining.

[claireclaire]

Hello everyone

Just want to give this post a little bump and, for all the people who replied to me, to let you know that I haven't forgotten this project.

I've spoken to a couple of people at LB of Lewisham, and there is a faintly positive response. I think with some more pushing, it should be possible to take it forward on a small scale, and from September 2011 (I hope). One thing they did say was that the tutoring would have to take place at one of their offices in Catford - and this is just for everyone's security and peace of mind.

I had 6 people reply to my original posting on this last year (thank you again!). If any of you are still interested in being involved, please do send me your email address so that I can contact all of you off the forum.

I also have another idea, which I'm hoping will be a little easier to get going. What about a volunteer programme to help primary school children with reading and maths?

[You know, what this is all about is that I see these teenage kids going off the rails and getting into all sorts of trouble, and it's quite clear that it all starts because they fall behind in school. I've had one teenager say these very words to me: "If you see that school isn't working out, you just join a gang. But once you do that, there's no way out." The problem is, that once they're in secondary school, it's almost too late to change the course of events, because by then, a certain level of understanding is assumed, and if you haven't got that, then you haven't got a chance. So this is why I'm now suggesting a programme to offer help in primary schools. ]

I hope this isn't too contentious but I'm thinking of, say, choosing the local schools who would most benefit from volunteer help, i.e. schools that are currently struggling to achieve the required levels in English and Maths. We contact the head teacher and offer to come in and provide completely free one-to-one help with these subjects. Obviously, all the volunteers would have to be CRB checked, and the time would almost certainly be immediately after school, between 3-4pm.

Any takers? Please get in touch if you would like to be involved.

Please use this address to contact me : volunteertutorse26@gmail.com

Claire Adam

[MiniFox]

I'd be happy to help although the time slot might prove problematic (not working at the moment but no intention of being long term unemployed)
I worked as a volunteer reader support in schools with my last employer (had a CRB then but dated 3 years ago). I thought a CRB could only be undertaken by the employer (ie LB of Lewisham) and that an individual could not arrange one..? Perhaps I misunderstood all of that

[claireclaire]

.... and two years later....

If any of you would be interested in volunteering to help primary school children with their reading, have a look here:

http://www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk/read ... w-to-apply


Claire