Passion for Learning

Who We Help, Why We Help & the Difference It Makes

What We Do

We offer many different types of volunteering opportunities, or ways in which a business or organisation can get involved, to make a positive difference to their local community. 

If you are interested in working directly with children, you may choose to support at an after school Enrichment Club for an hour once a week during term time, or to see selected children individually, a couple of times a week during the school day.  Following an initial enquiry, we will discuss with a potential volunteer which option will suit them best.

Our 1:1 volunteers typically help three children by coming into school a couple of times a week for about 1.5 hours. During that time, the volunteer can give each child half an hour’s individual attention. The volunteer sees the same children every week, often helping them for a year or occasionally longer, depending on the challenges that each child might face. In this way we can ensure that we know the children well, work with the school to support them appropriately and resource our sessions on an individual basis. We work with schools and the volunteer to understand each child’s learning needs and develop sessions for them that are fun and inspiring.

Our volunteers often work with children with a wide range of potential barriers that can impact on their learning. Often the children that we work with lack self-esteem and confidence and some, though not all, will have fallen behind their classmates in literacy and/or numeracy.

We provide frequent specialist training days that have included conferences on autism, ADHD and communication skills all given by highly qualified outside organisations. Where possible, we invite our partner schools to these events free of charge.

Volunteer

Passion for Learning seeks to recruit the most diverse team of enthusiastic volunteers possible. We have no upper age limit! Our work is all about bringing the world to the children that we work with and so many members of our community have ideas, experiences and talents that we would love them to share with the children. Our Volunteer Team includes people who have considerable experience of working with children including teachers, teaching assistants and nursery workers but we also have many people who have no prior experience of working professionally with children. We also offer volunteer opportunities to young people to support at our Enrichment Clubs and events in a nurturing and supportive environment.

The wealth of skills, careers and interests that our volunteers represent is one of our greatest strengths. We ensure that our initial and ongoing training is comprehensive to enable volunteers to go into school feeling well-prepared and confident.

Community Trail