Why Volunteer?

Why Volunteering is the way forward...
Being a volunteer is a fantastic way to gain experience in working in the area you would like to base your future career! With Voluntary Work on your CV - Employers will find you irresistible, as you will already possess the qualities they constantly seek when employing new staff!

Before I became the Pyramid Co-ordinator for Salford, I was a Volunteer on the scheme for 2 years - so my experience proves that Voluntary Work is definately worth it and does openmany doors of opportunity!

Being a Volunteer in the Pyramid Scheme will equip you the following ~

* Time Management skills
* Budget Management skills
* Group Management skills
* Planning and Organising skills
* Listening & Communication skills
* Experience in working with Children
* Team Building skills
* The chance to make a HUGE Difference to people's lives
......and many more skills - The list is endless!

If you think you could benefit from obtaining the skills in the list above - Contact Penelope now on:
0161 787 8500 or PenelopeHart@salfordbep.co.uk

Volunteers Needed!

Pyramid Club Leaders Needed!!

Are you interested in becoming an after school club leader? The Salford Pyramid Scheme is an exciting project affiliated to The National Pyramid Trust for children – a well respected national charity.

We run after school fun based activity clubs for children aged seven to eight years old. Children come to the club for a variety of reasons, but generally the club is designed to give the quieter, more withdrawn children a boost to their self-confidence. As clubs progress, these children often find their voice.The clubs are run by a small group of volunteers – usually three – with around ten children attending. Each club runs for an hour and a half, immediately after school for a period of ten weeks.

We ask for more than one and half hours of your time as the club willrequire some planning time. All Pyramid Volunteers are asked to undertaketwo to three days of training and attend a meeting at the end of the clubs to discuss the progress of the children and the club process itself.We ask our volunteers to have enthusiasm, a sense of fun, to be able to play, laugh, listen, and above all, respect each child in the group. The sort of things we do during our clubs are – Circle Time, games, food preparation of some sort, arts and crafts.

A typical club might look something like this:

Club leaders arrive and set up room/prepare activities
Children arrive/register
Drink/biscuit
Circle time
Games
Art/ craft activity/cooking
Tidy up
Circle time
Collect bags and coats/meet parents
Club leaders meet to evaluate session and plan for next one

Interested?If you are, please contact Penelope Hart, Pyramid Co-ordinator for Salford, on 0161 7878500 or by email to Penelopehart@salfordbep.co.uk

We interview all potential club leaders, and check their suitability through the Criminal Records Bureau. Because of the nature of the work with children, applicants are required by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to declare all criminal convictions including those, which are spent. However, having a criminal record will not mean that a person is automatically unsuitable.Applicants will be encouraged to discuss their situation in confidence on interview. We will write or telephone you to arrange for this interview to take place. You may be asked to bring along to interview some documentation to support your CRB checks*

The training aspect of this project is also important. We get the opportunity to spend time with you, get to know you, and you get the opportunity to get to know us. We therefore wait until after this is completed to ask you to fully commit to us – or for us to fully commit to you.Once you become a club leader, you are not just left to get on with it. You will be offered full support by the Pyramid Co-ordinator.

In addition, there will always be a Link Teacher as contact at the school during the time clubs are running. There will also be at least one support visit to the club by the Co-ordinator.Being a club leader will not cost you anything other than your time. All out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed by us.* CRB proof of identity: Your Pyramid Coordinator will specify which documents

Welcome To Pyramid

Would you like to gain experience working with Primary School Children??

The Salford Pyramid Scheme works within 16 Primary Schools, helping to boost the confidence and self esteem of many children, through fun, therapeutic after school clubs.

We are constantly seeking to recruit new volunteers to work withn the project as without volunteers - the project couldn't work!

If you are interested ini this volunteering opportunity, please read the other blogs or contact myself directly on ~ 0161 787 8500 or PenelopeHart@salfordbep.co.uk

Summer Garden Project - Success!

Before.....

After!

The Summer Garden Project
(Article from the Salford Advertiser, 2006)

It might be summer holidays but that hasn't stopped a group of pupils turning up at school for a hard day's work. The youngsters spent a day last week at Radclyffe Primary School in Phoebe Street, Salford digging, planting and shovelling to transform a disused courtyard into a garden. The children are all members of the Pyramid Club, a charitable organisation that works with primary school children who are experiencing social and emotional difficulties.

They provide after school activities in several Salford primary schools designed to boost their self-esteem, social skills and emotional resilience. Coordinator for Pyramid, Penelope Hart, said: “There's always been a courtyard in the school but it was disused and it didn't have any flowers or anything. “The children wanted to develop it and make it their own garden and the headteacher was more than happy for us to go in and help them to make it their own space. “This has made the courtyard a special place for the children to go to within the school and it will also enable them to have made a difference to the school, further boosting their self-worth. “It will also be something that can be added to by children attending Pyramid Clubs at Radclyffe in the future.” Teenagers from voluntary group, Young Volunteers, also gave a helping hand. Gardening equipment and plants were donated by Salford Families, Groundwork Tameside, Garden Needs Nurseries and Garden Centre and Buile Hill Garden Centre.