Voluntary Service

This section aims to instill a sense of compassion in participants, helping them become active and engaged citizens who contribute to strengthening and improving their communities. Participants are encouraged to volunteer their time to support others, whether it be people, the community, the environment, or animals, and to learn and benefit from their service. The focus of the activity is to provide service that contributes to caring and compassionate communities while also developing the participant’s character. In alignment with the Award's experiential learning methodology, participants learn by doing. By engaging in service regularly over an extended period, rather than in a short, concentrated time frame, it is hoped that young people will develop a lifelong commitment to voluntary service and community involvement. This also allows them to form a personal connection with the environment, people, or animals they are serving.

*Participants must do their activity either 1 hour each week or 2 hours every two weeks for the minimum number of weeks required. For example, a Silver Award Participant can do 1 hour of activity weekly during 26 weeks or 2 hours of activity every fortnight, such that, in the end, 26 hours of activity have been completed.

Do NOT forget to record activities in your log book and make your assessor sign at the end of each session. It is also recommended to keep pictures of your activities or upload them on the ORB.

Examples of SMART goals:

Tutoring/ help to others: I am going to be helping out in the primary by listening to year 5 students read and helping them develop their higher reading skills. I will ask knowledge, comprehension and application questions to the struggling students and I will ask analysis, synthesis and evaluation questions to the higher level students. Through this I will aid the students' reading and comprehension skills. I’ll be able to achieve my goal by going to an hour a week (3 or 4 times a week to complete an hour). I will know I achieved this goal if the teacher is satisfied by the progress the children are making and indicates this on the assessor's report.

Mentoring/ Coaching: My aim is to help the under‐8's improve their footballing ability, including teamwork, attacking and defending and to build relationships with the young children playing at the club by March 2024. In order to do this, I will attend the club and work with the kids once every week.

For an activity to qualify under the Voluntary Service section the following must be respected:

• The Participant must NOT be paid to complete the activity.

• The beneficiary CANNOT be a commercial organisation.

• The activity has to be meaningful; the people receiving help must require and deserve help. It must meet a genuine community need and not just provide a favour to a friend or neighbour or fulfill vocational or work experience requirements.

• The beneficiary must NOT be a family member nor a friend, unless the friend is disadvantaged/vulnerable.

• The activity must have a real impact on the lives of other people as well as in a participant’s own life. This impact should be positive and preferably enduring.

The button below will give access to a list of Voluntary Service that you can choose from for this section.