"My student partner is a bright kid and he just needed some stimulus and motivation to do numbers and not feel intimidated by them."

Volunteer

Preparation tips

One of the first steps in the volunteering process is for the Volunteer Coordinator to find a school to work with. If you do not have a Volunteer Coordinator at your company, it may be up to you to find a school and make first contact. If that is the case you will need to consider the following:

  • To make initial contact, call first thing in the morning, at lunch time or after school. Teachers can be hard to get hold of - once you have been put in touch with the appropriate teacher, find out when they are free and how best to contact them. You can use the school contact checklist to help you.
  • If you have responsiblity for setting up the scheme you will need to read the information for Volunteer Coordinators and also download the Coordinator handbook which includes all the information you will need for the smooth running of the scheme.
  • All volunteers need to have a police or criminal record check before being registered as a Number Partner. Information about the police or criminal record checks can be found at www.crbcheck.info/Default.aspx or http://www.crb.gov.uk/ or, if you are in Scotland, at http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/basic.htm. These can take up to six weeks so make sure you get this organised with plenty of time before the first session.

Volunteer Preparation

Finding time to prepare yourself fully will be very worthwhile. You are giving up your time to volunteer and it is important that you understand the needs of schools. Take a little time, read through the information in this section and use the downloads.

Knowledge

  • Familiarise yourself with some of the number strategies used by students to solve tricky problems. Use the downloadable number strategies on this site as a guide.
  • It is useful to know the resources before you get into school.Your volunteer coordinator should liaise with the school over the provision and selection of games. Your company might even offer to purchase suitable games. The games aren't complicated and the instructions are clear. Some games can be downloaded from the Resources section of this website.

After your visit

  • Catch up with the teacher on your way out - let them know how the session went and what the highlights and issues were, if any.
  • Keep records of what you covered - not just the games you played but whether there was anything your partner struggled with, or anything you struggled with! Use the NP Diary. This should be made available to your partner and their teacher. Try to be positive at all times.