Term 2 has flown by. As universities begin to wind down for Easter break, all of our Hubs are busy continuing to deliver amazing work in their communities. March has included showcase celebration events, service learning launches and exciting student-led events – alongside the practical volunteering stories you can read about here.
Schools Plus in Bristol
Bristol Hub has forged an exciting new partnership in the city, working with Bridge Learning Campus – an academy which supports young people from nursery through to year 11. Tilly, the Schools Plus Coordinator in Bristol, has been working closely with the academy to launch three new projects; Primary Reads, Resources Creation Workshops and Spanish Club.
Primary Reads is a pilot virtual programme that allows student tutors and year 2 and year 3 pupils to read a book together. Resource Creation Workshops are being used by student volunteers to create a library of audiobook videos for infant and junior pupils – these include books from the curriculum as well as well-known nursery rhymes, tales, myths and legends. Finally, the Spanish Club offers a virtual after school club for year 7 and year 8 pupils full of engaging games and fun activities. More focussed Spanish support will also be offered to GCSE level pupils.
Hear what Tilly has to say about the new partnership below:
“Launching these programmes with BLC is really exciting! After a year of providing quite a different type of support than that typically offered by Schools Plus, it feels great to get our volunteers back into the classroom (if virtually for now!), and to really address and engage with the specific needs of teachers and their students.
Admittedly, the committee and I have often wished that this year had come with a ‘running a programme in a pandemic’ manual. But as we near the end of this turbulent year, I think what we really hoped to do was to make an impact, and this new partnership with BLC feels like a really important part of that. I hope that Schools Plus can continue to support them well into the future.”
Branch Up is Back
This month Southampton Hub delivered two virtual Branch Up activity hours. The volunteers and young people got to know each other by playing Simon Says and Follow the Leader before taking part in an exciting virtual Scavenger Hunt. This weekend the volunteers and young people from Branch Up will get to meet in person for the first time in almost a year, keep your eyes on the Southampton Hub socials to hear about the day.
Digi Donors Tackles Digital Poverty
In December 2020 David, an existing Schools Plus volunteer at Southampton Hub, came to the team with a proposal. He was motivated to close the digital poverty gap in Southampton by repurposing unused laptops and donating them to young people in the city to support their learning from home. Digi Donors was born.
Since February 2021, we have received over 20 laptop donations from generous people all over Hampshire and we have many more waiting! David and his volunteers are now in the process of data cleansing and reinstalling so they are ready to be donated to our Branch Up and Schools Plus community participants.
In the Spotlight
This month we want to put our Alumni Ambassadors in the spotlight. They have had a busy few months building the alumni community at Student Hubs and supporting the students we work with. Unsal, Aaron and Regina have hosted two Crafty Chatters events – an opportunity for alumni to knit, draw and craft whilst having a chat. Meanwhile, Regina, Unsal and Nancy fed into our recent employability webinar and Q&A, sharing their experiences in the third sector with current students. The pièce de résistance has to be the upcoming Murder Mystery.
Join the interactive night, created and hosted by the Alumni Ambassadors, on 8 April. Tickets available now, all proceeds go to the Student Hubs Innovate Fund.
What to Look Out For
- In case you missed it, Student Hubs celebrated International Women’s Day with two blogs around the #ChooseToChallenge theme. Fiona shared her thoughts on Joining An All Female Management Team and Sim reflected on What I’ve learnt from leading an organisation from home for a year
- The launch of Student Hubs’ Spring Fundraiser. We have a variety of events happening in April and May, raising money for the Innovate Fund
- Our March webinars on Project Management and Accessible Volunteering Programme Design