As the School's & Volunteer Coordinator, I'm lucky that I get extra volunteering days so I can give honest advice to our volunteers during their training. Since the Trawling and Ambassadors of Hull have both been revamped this term, I have managed to go to each over the past couple of weeks. Both of these experiences are based in Hull town centre and are very popular with our schools. I've enjoyed them previously so was intrigued to find out what had been changed.
Trawling - I think this experience has changed the most, it's a even more interactive now. We still go out and interview the public which is fab for building confidence and the tour of trawling industry landmarks is still the same. The new activities were amazing though. Kids got to use their critical thinking skills to decipher what it was like to work on board a trawling boat, based on interviews with trawlermen - all very different opinions so was great to help them pick out ideas and hear their reasoning. What I liked best about this experience as a volunteer though, was how easy it was to open up discussions on career choices at this point of the day. By starting off the conversation with 'Do you think you'd like to have a job like this?', it made it easy to talk about different options for their future. Another new activity in this experience is the re-enactment of the Triple Trawler Tragedy - all the children played a part of either a trawlerman, family member, headscarf revolutionary or member of parliament and you could tell by acting it all out, the information was really sticking with the kids - plus it was just super fun to watch! Giggles all round.
Ambassadors of Hull - The Ambassadors have been updated in this experience and it's nice to have people the children have usually heard of and point out why they are so ace, I think a lot of the children gained inspiration from this. The other activities that had changed was splitting the children into groups to do a deep dive on a Hull ambassador, before they gave a presentation and argument to why their ambassador was the greatest to the rest of the class, before everyone voted for a winner. This experience hasn't changed as much as the Trawling but my word what a lovely day. Spending all day with the same four children really gives you chance to get to know them and see their confidence grow throughout the day. It's a proper feel good trip this one for volunteers. I had a girl in my group who was so nervous about talking to the public in the beginning, but with a bit of gentle encouragement she got better and better, and that part of the day ended up being her favourite, because she now knows that if she ever needs to talk to an adult, then she can. I had another girl that at first didn't want to speak in front of her class, but later offered to represent the group and their findings. It's moments like these that make volunteering so worth it.
Anyway, don't take my word for it, sign up today as a volunteer and join a class on a experience of your choice. It's the 'Get involved' -volunteer tab on our homepage. I hope to meet you soon!
Nic
School & Volunteer Coordinator