Duke of Edinburgh Award Volunteers With Turn The Tide Portishead
Since September 2020 we have had 86 students from Gordano School volunteering with us to achieve their Gold, Silver or Bronze awards. We liaise with the lead teacher for this scheme which has proved beneficial both to us and the school.
They volunteer with us for 3, 6 or 12 months depending which award they have entered for,
this then completes a section of that award.
We require them to fill in a form in which parents/guardians give their details and permission for any photos sent to us to be used for our publicity.
We supply them with litter pickers and yellow hi vis at which point they can start to go out for one hour a week litter picking in locations of their choosing in and around Portishead.
They are required to report back to us, time spent, amount collected and the locations they have covered.
Once they have completed the time required for their award they have to answer the following questions:
- What progress do you feel you have made in your volunteering experience with us?
Is there anything you have learned from your volunteering experience with us? - What skills do you think you have learnt during your volunteering time with us?
- How might you apply these skills in your life going forwards
We can then sign them off by filling in a D of E assessment form online in which we have to outline what they have gained from their time volunteering with us.
Since this project started we have, to date, had 86 students in this scheme, they have completed 964 hours of litter picking and filled 1496 black bin bags with rubbish, they recycle where possible and report unusual items they have found.
We have to date signed off on 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 51 Bronze Awards with a further 1 Gold, 10 Silver and 17 Bronze students volunteering with us and yet to be assessed.
As part of their volunteering with us we have also invited them to join us at our Community Litter Picks and I am pleased to say that quite a few have come along over the recent months.