Kensington Primary School supports members of the local community who wish to gain experience working in primary schools.

These include: pupils from feeder secondary schools, typically Year 10 pupils, who wish to have a work experience placement in our primary school over a typical two week period; volunteers from the local community, and adults who are currently on a course or training to become either teaching assistants or learning support assistants, or those planning to start a teacher training programme.

There has also been a significant increase in the number of requests for volunteer and work experience placements during this academic year. This has been largely due to the requirement set by many school-related development and training courses (either through local adult learning centres or universities), who now require various amounts of work experience as part of the candidates’ development and training package. Typically, this varies between 60-120 hours in total. We also occasionally have some volunteers who simply wish to help out at their local primary school.

Before any volunteers are able to commence volunteer work or work experience opportunities in our school, an interview is arranged, where:

1. The volunteers’ DBS and identity (usually a passport is provided for this) is validated,
2. They complete the School Staff Disqualification Declaration, and
3. Volunteer Placements Information Form.

Once these have been successfully completed and checked, the interview then progresses on to the school’s expectations and relevant policies. This is followed by Key Stage focus preferences, whilst checking the school’s current volunteer/ work experience staffing allocations to ensure that there are no overlaps with volunteer/ work experience times and dates.

The volunteers are then given a brief tour of the school; fire exit procedures are also shown and discussed.

Copies of the DBS and related documentation are filed and kept by the school.

The relevant teaching staff are informed of the proposed volunteer placement and a start date is then agreed. The volunteers are then informed via email of the commencement date and the administration staff are informed in advance, to ensure that the signing-in/out procedures are complete and ready for each placement.

Regular feedback is received from teachers and the volunteers are both supported and monitored during their stay. 

If you are interested in volunteering at Kensington, please contact us.