Schools should offer to ensure the people that support children and young people, are the best they can be. Volunteers don’t start because they’re expecting a reward, but it is important that your school celebrates and values what the volunteers have done.
Acknowledging the contribution made by volunteers shows that your school
appreciates their input and commitment. Doing this can help volunteers feel valued and supported.
Our people – recognising our people actions
If your assessment tool has highlighted this as an area for improvement, here’s some simple actions your school sport committee can add to their action plan:
- Create staff profiles on the school website/noticeboard/social media. Show what sports are run by which staff members and what sports they enjoy. It’s a great way for pupils to get to know the volunteers.
- Create pupil and volunteer profiles on the school website/noticeboard/social media. Show and celebrate that volunteering in sport can provide a pathway to leadership opportunities and wider success out with sport
- Nominate volunteers for the Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering Awards - sportscotland
- Create thank you cards and certificates for volunteers, parents and coaches.
- Create volunteer certificates
- Arrange an assembly to thank the volunteers for the contribution they have made to the school This allows pupils more time to thank volunteers fully and gives more prominence to the importance of celebrating achievements.
- Social media is a simple way to regularly share news and thank volunteers.
Our people – recognising our people examples in practice
#SportHour
Get involved in #SportHour, #SportHour - sportscotland's monthly Twitter chat #SportHour is an informal LIVE Twitter conversation that we run from @sportscotland which you can follow using the hashtag #SportHour. The aim is to discuss different aspects of sport in Scotland, to challenge, to share and to have a conversation where everyone can have their say. It’s a great way of seeing other positive work going on in schools and your local areas, and a great way of your school showcasing theirs! Every month there is a new topic to enjoy!
Awards ceremonies
This year we continued with our Awards Ceremony to recognise the impact that sport and volunteering has in the school and to raise the profile of our volunteers. The event had nominees across 10 categories recognising the contribution and achievements of volunteers, coaches, athletes, clubs and schools over the past 12 months. In addition to recognising the finalists and winners on the night of the event we ran a social media campaign which featured information about each nominee.
Vounteer Friendly Award
As part of our 'People' lead area work we registered and worked to achieve the Volunteer Friendly Award. The Volunteer Friendly Award is a simple, user-friendly quality standard to support, recognise and reward groups who are good at involving volunteers. The award is based on the national standard Investing in Volunteers (IiV) but is designed for small organisations.
Impact of volunteering
This is 'John’ who has volunteered with us for last 9 months. John was struggling to access further education and find work. He has never missed a day's volunteering and using the skills he has learnt in the school he has gained a college placement for next year and is being employed over the summer by the school’s playscheme.He is the second volunteer who we have helped to gain employment through our volunteering/mentoring programme.
