Parent volunteers

[Tigersteeth]

What jobs do you give parent volunteers in your primary schools? Since the publicity about budget cuts we've had a lot of offers, but I'm struggling to think of genuinely useful jobs they could do...
Maybe sticking in?
Obviously the old classic of 'hearing readers', but is that really helping anyone?!

Honestly, there's not many jobs where completely unqualified people turn up and expect you to find them work and be grateful! Politically, it's hard to turn them away though. Any good ideas?

I know this probably isn't what you were meaning but......
I'll never forget going to both ds schools many years ago and volunteering to give free music lessons, both reading music and playing recorders or clarinet/ saxophone.
They didn't have the local peri's in as juniors tended not to be offered any music.
Whichever way round they refused. I was crb at the time, had a good reference from a previous school and was offering them free lessons at a time to suit them, totally flexible.
It was too much trouble for them and the kids missed out on learning and having fun.

My point is can you sort of mini interview the volunteers and find their strengths and use these.
They can't all want to read, some may be good at the admin side and not want to be in the classroom.
Some could help just by setting things up, taking them down or giving a talk on a subject they know about.

Im not a teacher but the parent of 2 dc with dyslexia and i am really grateful that they were not handed over to an unqualified volunteer parent for their reading practice.

I expect they have a bit more one to one with a TA but I have read with kids that have dyslexia. We can slow down a bit and help them out you know. One little girl had a coloured plastic sheet that helped her read. All her little friends knew she had a bit of extra help and no one batted an eyelid. But then we're a very holistic pastoral primary school.

Thanks Shinesun.
I'm the senco, and newly minted parent volunteer coordinator! So maybe I am coming at it from a particular angle, being protective of my vulnerables. ..
I've got a number of people offering a morning a week, so no good for special occasion help.
Laminating is a good call, and I've though about setting up regular cooking, but the faff of shopping/organising is putting me off. Plus the space to do it in is an issue, as is the ability of volunteers to manage behaviour in challenging groups.
Still thinking on this one!

Sorry. but you weren't able to do anymore than the parents. Repeating the same failing strategy over and over doesn't help. Targeted intervention does. And your expectation by the way is way off the mark of the intervention that the school actually put in for mine and other children.

Some teachers I did listen to readers

One very interactive class I did tonnes. Spellings readily g. Sticking and even guided reading.
That was unusual tho.

Now I just do helping at trips as dcs are in latter primary years.

I am confused about why you have all these volunteers you can't say no to. Either your school has asked parents to volunteer, in which case they should have had some idea what they were asking people to volunteer for, or these are people who have asked on spec if there is anything they can do, in which case, if there really is nothing at the moment, you can politely tell them this but ask if you can keep their details on a list of willing helpers for when you do need someone.

Also, please do not be so dismissive of volunteers and of parents. 'Volunteer' does not automatically equal unskilled, just ask the lifeboat service, or the fire service, the girl guides, the scouts. Parents do tend to have skills and experience, many are actually quite good with children and care about their education.

It's just a thought, but volunteer management is itself a skill and something that takes time. As managing volunteers is not one of your areas of expertise, maybe one of your parent volunteers would be interested in taking this on? They could spend a bit of time in school observing, getting to know a bit about it all. Then they could be a point of contact for potential volunteers, take details, ascertain skills and interests and then suggest to you useful ways in which the volunteers could help you. Or they could collect ideas from teachers for tasks outside the classroom, like a big effort to tidy gardens, sort lost property, whatever, and organise a small team to do this which would involve almost zero input from you.

I used to listen to reading within a sen reading group with a SDA we don't have Ta's in scotland, I also used to help the primary 1s on gym days make sure shoes were on the right feet etc, and once a month I would do library days. There is a lot volunteers can do we are fully aware we are not there to teach,

if you are conordinateing you new to ask the teachers what that need!

KS2 - swimming on Wednesdays
KS1 reading 9-9:30 every day
Reception - help with plays
KS2 - music or drama on Thursdays
KS1 sports practice on Fridays afternoon

Golden time - music dance theatre gardening

Any chance they could do a bit of marking? Ticking and crossing in maths should be doable, although the teacher would probably need to review and comment.

Times tables practice?

I also agree the answer to the parents asking is 'not just now, but we are creating a bank of helpers' (and if you really are struggling even outsource the management of that as suggested above) Get a list of parents, availability and flexibility of time plus skills, at the same time ask your colleagues - your y6 teacher probably has different needs to y1 or indeed the secretary or literacy coordinator.

At our school parents don't do reading but they do ...

• school play scenery, costumes, rehearsals with smaller groups while teacher works with others
• arts, maths and science fair coordination - teachers still help pupils with their work for the stands but all the organising is done by parents.
• y2 use parents every single morning for literacy. Teacher uses the time with guided reading in a small group and the rest divide up and do journal, a punctuation worksheet or some literacy work on computers i.e. Something most of them can do with a little guidance, spelling help etc. It's a real favourite with kids and parents and is always done as the first lesson so working parents can sometimes help too.
• specialist help sports, music, art lessons where they have skills. I've been in and worked with y5/y6 on persuasive writing projects as my job is in advertising
• 'admin' work getting costume, PE, arts cupboards sorted out, displays mounted, books sorted and labelled for readers,

And then the usual school trips, sports outings etc

I do appreciate your role as Senco may be tainting how you can see the value, and that's fair enough, but your other colleagues probably have many ways they can help.

(I'm a parent, not a teacher)
My children's school is crying out for volunteers to hear readers. I did it for 2 years so I presumed it was useful?
Near the end of second year the teacher asked me to help with maths. 1to1 with specific children, with work she had set. (Ks1 run up to sats) I also presumed she asked me because she thought it was a good use of my time.

Jobs I have also done whilst in school;(often during break time when I was in to hear readers) sticking work in books, guillotining, photocopying, helping with coats and shoe laces. Picking up clothes from the floor and returning them to the correct peg, wiping paint off walls and doors (that was the class next door, but I was hearing readers in the corridor) clearing up the mess from DT lessons, helping to put away the lego after lunchtime lego club, accompanying the class on local (walking) trips.

I would love to give the lost property a proper sort out!

(I also do the usual pta stuff, fetes refreshments, secondhand uniform etc)

I also noticed once that my child was due to make in DT something connected to a hobby of mine. So I offered to come in and show them how to do it. I think it was appreciated, as they asked me to do two other classes as well.

Tigersteeth, I am a parent, not a teacher and I think you have an excellent point.I don't know if hearing readers helps but I do know that's one of the things volunteers do in our school. They also do the photocopying, and we have a 'friends' group that organises fundraising events. I volunteer at these. Some parents also make up the requisite number of 'bodies' on trips.

Why don't you ask all volunteers to fill in a sheet where they have to outline any particular skills that they think they have? Then see if those skills suit what you need (help in science class, maths investigations etc.)

I found that if volunteers were given the correct guidance that they were invaluable. You quickly learn what their relative strengths are and work with them. I wouldn't have them doing targeted intervention but surely some basic classroom support for any children is useful?!

To those of you who have volunteered your time, thank you. We do appreciate it and it really is needed.

And I don't find your post rude at all- I'm glad teachers are asking these essential questions! I don't want to waste my time volunteering when it's not efficient or achieving anything of value.

However some of the children who need the most help are also our most vulnerable, so I'm not happy to hand over their education to unqualified people, no matter how nice!

What an odd thing to say! Nobody is asking you to do any such thing, but surely, as a SENCo you realise just how many children benefit from having an adult sit at a table with them while they work - not to be taught by them, but to help focus... to do all the things that can easily distract them (support them with a spelling) or help them read back where they've got to with some writing and just ask them what they want to say next. I mean, depending on the age, stage, needs of the children you are talking about it is difficult to be specific, but there are zillions of jobs (literate) parent helpers can do and still plenty that illiterate parents can do.
Tell us What age dc are you talking about, and let us know if the specific parents literate, and we can help you think of tasks.

Am as shocked as the volunteers that you don't value adults to read with dc in school, by the way.

What about helping out in the school library? sorting and repairing the books etc. Our school is always asking for volunteers for this. I agree though I wouldn't want the education of my child to be handed over to a non qualified person. Because my DS is an able reader the only person who ever listens to him read every now and then at school is a volunteer parent. His teacher says listening to the children one on one everyday takes aways too much of her valuable teaching time.

Op,
Maybe think about it from this point of view...
What am I (and my colleagues) doing which is taking away from teaching time? (Or filling up break times when you could be marking/preparing to teach?)

Then ask yourself if these jobs have to be done by a teacher/TA, or whether someone else can do them.
(It doesn't take a teacher to wash paint pots and sweep the floor.)

Then the other thing is the extras...lunchtime clubs, tidying the library, Costume making, helping dress infants for Christmas plays, tidying cupboards etc.

But would you go to your local accountants, and volunteer, because you've run your own bank account? Or volunteer in a restaurant kitchen because you cook tea at home?!
No, but neither are these businesses underfunded to the point they are asking for help. Pp is correct in that your attitude will put ppl off volunteering. It's up to you to find out how to best utilise people's skills. If you can't be bothered doing that, just get them to do the nonskilled work already discussed, but don't bitch about needing better skilled helpers! I'm a teacher by trade and have volunteered at school when working part-time, one of the other volunteers I knew there was a retired TA. Not one of the teachers bothered to find out how I could be better used, despite me being proficient at intervention strategies for poor literacy and numeracy, and mentioning it. Their loss.

This isn't ever going to end well for op but I think I get what she's saying.

I think clearing up should be well within a volunteers remit , 30 kids painting, sticking etc could easily take 30 mins to clear up to a useful level. That's a lot it kiddos days.

Also I love that people give up time to volunteer and I have no doubt they have great intentions but my ds has specific needs and the reading helpers aren't trained to help. That's no disrespect, I wasn't either! Teachers have some level of training but also the responsibility to get it right.

And (puts on hard hat) if a teacher breaks confidentially their job and career is on the line. If a volunteer does, theu still get to be in the playground everyday.

So, yes, it's not glamorous but shifting stuff, sorting resources and general admin stuff should be their remit.

So not tidying up. And not putting stuff away. Just the nice sitting and reading.

And it's my kid that doesn't get to be in the reading group btw. My kid gets to "help" clearing up while the volunteer does the reading. It's fine. Just my opinion.

OP, do you maybe work in KS2 and therefore there is less in the way of non-teaching tasks? Maybe speak to your colleagues in KS1/EYFS as I'm sure they would appreciate volunteers. I love having volunteers or students in and have never felt the need to ask them to teach "vulnerables" (neither have I ever heard of this happening).
Paint pot washing, sorting through spare wellies and organising the puzzle cupboard are all essential tasks but not the best use of staff time.
There's always loads of preparing resources, setting up areas, making paint/playdough, changing books to do.
You don't need an nvq or a pgce to play literacy or numeracy games or read with or to children.
Extra adults are always needed for trips, walks, forest/beach school, PE, swimming
If parents have particular skills in languages, sports, music, art etc why wouldn't you make use of that? I've had parents lead ongoing art projects, teach French songs, show children round their place of worship etc.
Christmas and Summer performances, sports days - always loads for volunteers to do.