Christian Aid has several initiatives already running in classrooms around the UK – including its Global Neighbours scheme (left) and Creative for Climate Justice – thousands of pupils have taken part, achieving awards, holding exhibitions and even having artwork on display in the Houses of Parliament.

Christian Aid teachers help with these programmes, as well as talking about particular aspects of global injustice.

The charity’s schools team explained volunteers don’t need to be qualified teachers, though experience of teaching or working with children is required.

Christian Aid’s Schools Programme Officer, Alison Brown, said: “It also helps to have engaging presentation skills, some knowledge of technology like Zoom, an enthusiasm for the work of Christian Aid and a willingness to attend training. We run remote training sessions twice a year, we have a wide range of resources for our volunteers to use, and we hope they’ll do at least two school visits a term.

“Our volunteers are amazing – they really understand how to get across the idea we live in an unequal world with so many communities living in extreme poverty. We want to get across the idea people are not in any way to blame for this poverty and to challenge any misconceptions children might hold, and we know there’s not a simple answer. It’s important our volunteer teachers can help children understand the world is complex but there are things they can do to help challenge injustice.

“We want children to start asking questions and speak up about injustice, to challenge the causes of poverty as well as support people to find ways to transform their lives.”

Ruth Norris is a volunteer teacher in Berkshire.

She said: “As a retired teacher, I miss being with children and the buzz of a school. My sister suggested Christian Aid’s volunteer teacher programme – and the rest, as they say, is history.

“You get out at least as much as you put in to this role – it’s very rewarding. The teachers and pupils have all been so very friendly; they love having a different face and a different voice in school to talk to them. It’s always been a good experience. It’s all about using our voices, working together and making things happen.”

Anyone interested can find out more through the Christian Aid website or by emailing schools@christian-aid.org.

The record-breaking numbers, published today, show that 537,759 young people are currently working towards their Award across the UK – up more than 10% on 2021/22.

The figures mark the end of the second year of the DofE’s ambitious five-year strategy to reach one million young people by 2026 – with a focus on breaking down barriers for marginalised young people and reaching more schools in deprived areas, community organisations, further education colleges, organisations supporting young people with additional needs, and prisons and young offender institutions.

The annual statistics show that:
• Participants gave 3,541,707 hours of volunteering in their communities – up 64 per cent on the previous year and equivalent to £17,035,611 in paid working hours.
• 29.9 per cent of 14-year-olds in the UK started their Bronze DofE.
• 262 secondary schools offered the DofE for the first time, including 98 in the most deprived areas of England.
• 19 secure settings started running the DofE, including prisons, young offender institutions, secure units, youth offending and youth intervention teams – with 79 now offering it overall.
• DofE was offered for the first time in 72 community organisations, 15 further education colleges, 126 centres for young people with additional needs and 36 alternative provision centres, supporting students who cannot attend mainstream school.

Ruth Marvel, CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, said: “Young people are taking up the DofE in record numbers – showing they value opportunities like this more than ever. As they find themselves stuck between a brutal past few years and an uncertain future, chances to develop and grow outside the classroom are vital to help level the playing field and give them the skills and capabilities they need to succeed in future.

“Young people need our support more than ever if they’re going to have the same chances previous generations had – which is why we’re determined to keep breaking down barriers to participation and reaching as many young people as possible.”

https://www.dofe.org/

Shannon was successful in the Scottish Student Sports (SSS) Inclusive Awards category, which celebrated individuals or clubs that made a significant effort to make their club more accessible and available to everyone.

She was given the award after helping to set-up the ‘Best Foot Forward Rosyth’ club, which gives College students and members of the community a chance to get outside, meet new people and stay active while walking in and around the Rosyth area.

The group is an extension of the Best Foot Forward Dunfermline which has been going for some years, and together with them Shannon created hour long walk routes around Rosyth. Since being established in March this year over 300 people have taken part.

Rather than award medals to each of the awards recipients, SSS have planted a tree with each winners name on it in their grove of trees in the Scottish Highlands as part of our new collaboration with TreesForLife.

Speaking after her award win, Shannon Harris said: “I was absolutely over the moon when I was told I’d won this award. Being a walk leader for the Best Foot Forward group has been so much fun and helps so many people, so to be recognised for this is amazing. Best Foot Forward has done a lot of good work over so many years in Dunfermline & now in Rosyth in making sure that as many people as possible get the chance to socialise and stay active during what’s been a difficult time for all of us.

“I have been on some stunning walks in all kinds of weather since March, and I’m so happy that the hundreds of people who have joined us since then have enjoyed being part of it.

“It is a privilege to be a part of such an amazing group and we aim continue our work over the coming months and look forward to helping people enjoy the great Dunfermline & Rosyth countryside for many years to come.”

Fife College Vice-Principal Dorothee Leslie said: “Huge congratulations to Shannon on winning this fantastic award. At the College we’re looking to do all we can to boost the health and wellbeing of our students, and walking is a great way of doing this.

“There’s never been a more important time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors and I know Best Foot Forward Rosyth has helped many of our students. This wouldn’t have been possible without Shannon’s drive and determination, and I want to thank her on behalf of everyone who she has helped over the past few months.”

Concerned at the likely impact, Pam Fowler, a Year 2 Teaching Assistant at River Beach, used Facebook to ask school families to contact her directly if they were concerned about feeding their children during the holidays. Several families got in touch, and Pam organised 11 Teaching Assistants from the school who not only delivered food throughout the week to families but also funded it themselves.

The group have now received offers of help from across the school community, and from Schoolsworks, the Academy Trust to which the school belongs. Donations have exceeded £350, which will be used to support River Beach families over the Christmas period as needed.

Dave Ayers, Headteacher at River Beach, commented: “River Beach is a wonderful community, and the fact that Pam and our TA team chose to work in this way to support our families in need really demonstrates this quality. This amazing group has gone above and beyond, and I am so proud of them and their incredible sense of kindness.”

Chris Seaton, CEO of Schoolsworks, added: “River Beach was one of the first schools to join our multi-academy trust and the whole team are a real pleasure to work with. Our offices are based on River Beach’s school site, and as soon as we heard about the work of Pam and her team we wanted to celebrate this extraordinary act. Since then staff from across our Trust have been keen to help by donating food and funds so that families don’t face the awful prospect of struggling to feed children during school holidays.”

Pam Fowler concluded: “We know what it’s like to be in a similar situation and just wanted to give something back to our school community.”

The charity is warning that this threat, exacerbated by the latest lockdown measures, could accelerate the mental health crisis facing young people across the UK. More than half (54%) of young people the DofE surveyed worry their levels of stress, anxiety or mental health issues could increase if they are no longer able to continue with the activities and experiences helping them cope with the pandemic.

During the pandemic, extracurricular learning has been a lifeline for many young people, helping to maintain and boost resilience and mental health. 43% of DofE participants surveyed said they felt volunteering, doing exercise or learning a new skill has given them a positive focus during COVID-19, while nearly two thirds (64%) are more appreciative of non-academic activities as a result of the pandemic.

Yet as problems with sleep, depression and self-harm in children rise and youth unemployment is set to triple, access to these life-changing activities is under threat. Even when lockdowns are not in place, many youth clubs and classes remain closed and young people themselves are feeling pressure to give up activities. The DofE’s survey uncovered that 71% of participants that responded have had to cut back on extracurricular activities due to academic pressures caused by COVID-19. Nearly a quarter (22.5%) worry they might have to sacrifice extracurricular activities because they are more concerned about their parents’ financial situation.

In response, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has launched its Resilience Fund to ensure thousands of young people facing disadvantage are able to participate in DofE, which has been shown to help increase wellbeing, confidence and resilience. Thanks to a very generous donation the Fund will provide 12,000 funded DofE places for young people facing disadvantage, and train thousands of DofE Leaders, Managers and volunteers to further strengthen the charity’s support for young people from under-privileged backgrounds.

While the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have taken steps to recognise the value of extracurricular learning, funding services and positive activities for young people before and throughout the pandemic, young people in England have faced years of brutal cuts that have eroded their infrastructure of support.

Today the DofE is calling on the UK Government to act urgently to prevent a wider mental health crisis, by ensuring the quality provision of extracurricular learning in England is prioritised, adequately funded and enabled, in line with safety guidelines, in Government COVID-19 guidance.

This includes:

• Providing emergency funding for youth organisations so they can continue providing essential support and extracurricular learning, including releasing the £500m investment in youth services promised as part of the UK Government’s 2019 manifesto.
• Investing in developing a diverse, high quality and sustainable youth offer, particularly in areas of deprivation, to ensure all young people can access opportunities, activities and experiences that are essential to their development and wellbeing.

Harry, who is doing his Gold DofE in Wigton, Cumbria, shares why extracurricular learning is so important to him: “When lockdown started, I was scared to leave my house and struggled to find anything good in life. I have autism and a rare genetic condition which heightened my anxieties. For my DofE volunteering, I grew vegetables in my allotment to share with local people who were shielding. Doing this helped me feel less anxious, more confident, and speaking to other allotment holders from a distance has helped me learn to socialise safely. Being outdoors helps me relax and stay calm.”

Ruth Marvel, CEO of the DofE, said: “These threats to extracurricular learning could have devastating impacts on the mental health and future prospects of young people – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom have been hit hardest by COVID-19. Non-academic education is just as important as academic learning, and the UK Government must prioritise it as such. To face the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, young people need and deserve the increased resilience, confidence and independence built through extracurricular learning.”

A new report, also published today by the DofE, produced with the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), highlights the long-lasting impact DofE programmes have on young people’s wellbeing and mental health, as well as building valuable skills for their future and prospects of employment. It reports that 62% of participants say doing their DofE made them more confident in overcoming difficult situations, 61% feel they have become more independent, 67% say it helped them feel more responsible, and 70% said it made them feel proud of what they can achieve.

Throughout the pandemic, the DofE has been supporting tens of thousands of young people across the UK to continue their extracurricular learning through DofE With A Difference, providing physical, skills-based and volunteering opportunities that can be easily done from home.

Oliver has been using 3D printers at home to make key PPE for local key workers during the pandemic and has used the skills he has learnt in class to make more than 150 masks.

He said: “I got the inspiration from reading about people in Italy using their printers to make similar equipment in the midst of their outbreak – I thought it was a great idea and decided to do the same.”

Oliver used PVC to create the front shield and elastic to secure the masks, using the help of his mum when needed.

He added: “It’s difficult to get the printers running, but once you’re in the rhythm it’s not hard anymore, but it is time-consuming to deal with all the fiddly bits.”

He started making the masks on his own, but now supports the demand with two other Twyford residents – Oliver Beardsall and David Dawkins – and in July, he estimated that they had created more than 200 between them.

Oliver has managed to supply all the local GPs, pharmacists, hospices, care homes and chemists with masks, and is now shipping them as far as Birmingham.

Heaton School in Heaton Moor is Stockport’s Secondary Special School for young people with severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties, autism and complex medical needs. The school caters for students aged 11 – 19 years.

The school has been working hard over recent years in collaboration with The Rotary Club of Stockport Lamplighter to ‘rewild’ an area of the school field to help the school become a Forest School.

Forest School is an approach to teaching and learning that allows all students develop a wide range of skills and to improve their self-confidence and self-esteem through hands on experiences in natural environments with trees.

The volunteers from the Buckingham Group, McGinley, Network Rail and East-Tec Electrical Services helped to take the project onto the next stage, by donating their time and materials.

The volunteers enlarged the ‘firepit’ area in the grounds and created a path to improve access to the wild area and also installed new lighting to the garden area.

Headteacher at the Heaton School, Jo Chambers-Shirley said: “For medical, physical and sometimes emotional reasons, many of our students miss out on accessing wilderness areas. To have an area on site accessible and available for our students to enjoy therefore greatly enriches their lives.

“Through Forest School activities I have seen many students, and particularly those with the most complex needs, blossom and their self-esteem and mental well being improve. In addition their learning skills improve as well as their communication skills thus helping them develop friendships. We cannot thank the volunteers from Network Rail, McGinley and Buckinghams and East-Tec Electrical Services enough for the improvements they have made to our school grounds.”

Councillor Dean Fitzpatrick, Stockport Council’s Cabinet Member for Education said: “It’s fantastic that these volunteers have given their time and that their companies have donated materials to improve the learning experience of some of Stockport’s most challenged students.”

The organisation trains and supports reading helpers to provide one-to-one support to children aged 3 to 13 in a variety of ways, turning them into confident, passionate and able readers. In the last school year the charity helped over 11,000 children across England, in over 1,400 schools, with the help of over 3,000 reading helpers, ensuring children have the skills and confidence to reach their true potential.

Ginny Lunn, Chief Executive Officer at Beanstalk, says: “Reading is a fundamental skill in early education and, once grasped, provides a springboard to new opportunities and possibilities. By working with children who have either fallen behind with their reading, lack confidence, or struggle with their fluency or comprehension, our reading helpers can make a significant difference to their future prospects. This Volunteer’s Week we want to highlight the valuable hours spent by our trained reading helpers who help deliver Beanstalk’s reading programmes in a range of educational settings across England. The work our reading helpers do makes a meaningful difference to children across the country – thank you to all our volunteers and supporters!”

Each Beanstalk volunteer is trained to recognise what challenges each child faces and tailors their sessions to support each child. Clare has been a Beanstalk 321 volunteer for three years and visits a local primary school twice a week supporting three children for 30 minutes:

“I was a nurse a very long time ago and then a Teaching Assistant in a special school and mainstream schools. I became a volunteer after searching online for ways of helping disadvantaged children. The best parts are laughing with the children and the breakthrough moments. If you look for the small changes; not just with reading, but with eye contact, concentration, a smile, a moment of relaxation, there are breakthrough moments every week. Knowing that the children look forward to me going in motivates me to stay, as does the caring atmosphere in school, particularly from the Inclusion Team. To anyone considering volunteering I would encourage it. There is training and support. Remember, it’s all about the child, follow their interests.”

If you would like to find out more information about becoming a Beanstalk reading helper please visit www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk

Lessons, which will promote aims such as ‘End Poverty’ and ‘Fight Inequality’, will take place in schools from Sunday 27^th September following the official announcement of the new Global Goals at the UN Summit in New York on Friday 25^th September. The new seventeen goals will replace the old Millennium Development Goals which expire this month.

VSO volunteers from all over the world including Britain, will be teaching ‘The World’s Largest Lesson’ in Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and Malawi. The lessons will include a special animated film, devised by acclaimed British Educationalist, Sir Ken Robinson.

For more info about the campaign visit: https://www.tes.com/worldslargestlesson/

To become a VSO Volunteer visit: www.vso.org.uk/bethevolunteer/education