Volunteers Work Hard for Duke of Edinburgh

Volunteering plays a crucial role for members of the Shiplake community and the wider community beyond the College. Despite being a compulsory aspect of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, volunteering comes in various shapes; some of which might surprise you!

For the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, pupils are expected to look for inspiration for what they might want to do for the volunteering module of the course, before discussing these ideas with the DofE Manager Steve MacPherson to ensure it conforms to requirements. They must then contact the organisations they are interested in volunteering with to offer themselves. After this, the pupils discuss their goals with a nominated assessor and eventually gather evidence throughout the duration of their role to exchange for an assessor’s report on completion of their role.

Within the school, two boys help the School’s Rev’d with chapel services, two assist with Lower School academic clinics, one offers his services managing Burr House’s social media, while others volunteer within the local community. There are volunteers from Shiplake working through a local community scheme for pensioners in Ibstone and others helping at Readifood, distributing food to the homeless. Meanwhile Andrei Woodlock of Burr House has been volunteering an hour a week for the past four months to pick up litter. There are also pupils assisting with local parish magazines and another pupil who walks the dog of an elderly person living in their village.

Duke of Edinburgh Manager Steve MacPherson said:

“The volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award is all about making a difference in the community, by giving your time to help others and change things for the better. At Shiplake we encourage our pupils to get out of the College environment and look for volunteering opportunities in the wider community. Andrei has certainly done that by volunteering with Wargrave Council on a litter picking scheme. Other examples from the 11 boys undertaking the award include helping pensioners through a local community scheme in Ibstone, helping Readifood distribute food to the homeless and walking the dog of an elderly person in their village. Andrei has been volunteering one hour a week for the last four months and hopes that his actions will not only make Wargrave a cleaner place but also raise awareness about what littering does to the environment.”

From these roles, pupils learn about their communities and earn a sense of belonging and purpose; they learn to take responsibilities for their communities and their own actions by committing and persevering with an activity. All the while, they build new relationships with members of their community, which in turn decreases fears and prejudices, and increases community cohesion and collective consciousness. They also get a chance to develop teamwork and leadership skills, increasing their employability and work experience while furthering their understanding of their own strengths and weakness by evaluating their own progress and building confidence and self-esteem.