Do primary schools accept volunteers nowadays?

[labooboo]

I’m currently in my 30’s, I work in retail but I’m keen to gain some experience within a school. I have a DS with autism and additional needs and would love to eventually work in a special school like the one he attends.

I’ve been doing lots of relevant accredited courses online but I have zero experience in a school environment. I thought maybe offering to volunteer in a local primary would be good to get some experience (I’d be happy to commit a full day per week). I remember a lot of parents etc would help out when I was at school, but unsure if this is still a thing, or where to even begin in this respect?

I did reading support through "Bookmark", a charity which sends adults into primary school to do reading support with a child for 30 mins twice a week (I used to do two back to back). Might be a way in. I think Beanstalk is similar and there might be a maths version but don't know the name. Might be a way in at least.

Ah that looks brilliant, sadly neither cover my town or surrounding areas :(

Ours does, for reading practice, basic maths (years 1 & 2) and helping with sports & trips. Give your local school office a call and ask.

Ours welcomes volunteers in for reading and to help with forest school for the younger children. Schools are struggling so much with cuts to their budgets so they’d welcome any additional support. You might have to pay for your own DBS though

Yes definitely.

Definitely! I’d volunteer at your sons school first and ask to attend any trainings they are giving to staff, then apply for TA roles

You may be able to go straight into a teaching assistant role with your personal experience of sen. Worth a try! Can I ask what accredited courses you've been doing? Im hoping to get back into childcare/education.

Hi, I’ve mainly been doing the government funded courses (they’re only level 2 which I think is GCSE equivalent but very informative and interesting) which have a good range of choices eg autism awareness, safeguarding, allergy awareness, SEN in education. If you google free funded courses they should come up on various platforms like AIM.
I’ve also applied on studysmartuk.com for a Level 3 course but you need to meet certain conditions (either be on benefits or earning less than 25k or so)

DM used to help with reading in our local primary school (where my dc went). She rang up and offered her services and took it from there.