Youth Projects

Cosmos Centre After School Club

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Venue: Cosmos Community Centre, Abbey Walk, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9LB

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The Cosmos Community Centre After School Club is a busy, fun club for youngsters. Currently they care for up to 56 youngsters each afternoon. Then, through the school holidays they are open for full days to enable parents or carers to continue in employment or further education. Occasionally they have fundraising events, parties and discos for the children, so these are always busy times when volunteers are very welcome.

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They are looking for volunteers to come in for an hour, or an hour and a half a week, ideally between the hours of 3.30pm and 5.00pm, after which the Club gets quieter as youngsters are collected. The Club runs every day of the week and volunteers will help with the running of the after school club. They are looking for one volunteer from the university for each weekday afternoon.

 

Each volunteer has to be vetted through the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) system.  Presently that is free for volunteers. Each volunteer has an agreement, saying that the Cosmos Centre will look after them, and in return, volunteers will support them in their work with children and maintain confidentiality.

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They want to emphasise to students that studies come first.  They love having some help, but understand that students’ main priorities will be essays, lectures, reading weeks, exams – and of course, their holidays will differ from that of the local primary schools.  So they are happy to work around students’ commitments.  If a volunteer has the time to come in, that is fine.  They have a really strong childcare team, who will work alongside volunteers and ensure they are looked after and guided during the afternoon.

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Graduate Attribute examples - Social responsibility, inter-personal skills, resilience, oral communications, and creativity

 

Code Club Dundee Central Library

Venue: Dundee Central Library, Wellgate Shopping centre, Dundee, DD1 1DB

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Code Club is a global network of free coding clubs for 9-13 year olds. At Code Club, they think all children should have the opportunity to learn to code, no matter who they are or where they come from. they work with a global community of volunteers, educators, and partners to run free coding clubs, for children aged 9 and above. They believe in learning through making, and their coding projects offer young people opportunities to be creative and to share their creations with each other.

The club at Dundee Central Library is centred around Scratch coding, so volunteers should be familiar with that site, as we rely on the online tutorials provided there and on the Projects page of the Code Club. As Scratch is taught in schools, our clubs are very informal with no set plans as children vary in age, enthusiasm and skill level. The children age from anywhere under 14, however we ask that parents accompany children under 8.

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The Central club runs from 4pm to 6pm on Mondays. They do take a break during the holidays and each club generally gets an average of 5 children with 2 volunteers. Volunteers will have coordinate transport to the venue, either using their own personal means of transport or taking the 99 bus to and from Dundee.

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Volunteers will need to become a Stem Ambassador, which will provide a free background check. They can do that here: STEM Ambassadors. Once they join there, they then register with the Dundee Central Library Code Club and provide them with evidence of their STEM application and status. Dundee Central Library Code Club should be listed on the STEM Ambassadors website as well so volunteers can apply to join the club from that site.

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Graduate Attribute examples - research skills and problem solving, creativity, numeracy, technical and specialist academic skills and disciplinary knowledge, leading others, and organisation skills

 

Ceres Kemback & Springfield Church Youth Clubs

Venue: Springfield Community Church, Manse Road, Springfield, KY15 5RY​

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The Ceres Kemback & Springfield Church Youth Clubs are fun and vibrant sessions for children in the local communities around Springfield and Ceres. At the Club at Ceres Church, the children are P7 to S3-aged pupils and currently only girls are in attendance (boys are very welcome to join as well). At the Club at Springfield Church, the children are P5 to P7-aged pupils and both girls and boys are in attendance. Both female and male volunteers are welcome to volunteer at both Clubs.

The Ceres Church Youth Club meets on Friday evenings in the lovely Ceres Kemback Community Church from 7pm-9pm. The Springfield Church Youth Club meets fortnightly on Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm-8pm.

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They are looking for volunteers who could assist from approximately 6.45pm until 9.15pm at the Ceres Kemback Community Church and from approximately 6:15pm until 8:15pm at the Springfield Community Church. They also run one-off craft and activity sessions throughout the year which SVS will advertise. If you share that passion/hobby and would like to get involved, this can be organised and you will be able to help out at the Clubs on those evenings. No PVG check will be required for this.

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Experience of working with children is desirable but not essential. They would like the volunteer to be a person with a caring, flexible and outgoing attitude. A person who enjoys having fun with children. Unfortunately, they are unable to assist with transport. However, there is good bus service between St. Andrews, Ceres and Springfield. (Transport details below). They will be flexible with the time you are able to provide to the Club, knowing the issues that can be experienced by bus travel. So please don’t be worried about being late, etc. Just keep in touch. Both Clubs are also very understanding of students’ commitments so are flexible on when volunteers can offer their time. However, clear communication between you and SVS will be needed if you wish to be a part of this opportunity, to ensure that we are not letting down the Youth Clubs.

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Transport to Venue for Springfield Church Youth Club

X59 bus from St Andrews to Springfield: 5:25pm-6:09pm

59 Bus from Springfield to St Andrews: 8:18pm-9pm

Or own personal means of transport

 

Transport to Venue for Ceres Kemback Church Youth Club

99 and 46 bus from St Andrews to Ceres: 5:55pm-6:39pm

64A and 59 bus from Ceres to St Andrews: 9:24pm-10pm

Or own personal means of transport

They require prospective volunteers to complete an application form, provide references and attend an interview. You will also have to have a PVG check for safeguarding purposes, which is provided free of charge for volunteers. You will be given an induction, an opportunity to shadow other volunteers and will be supervised.

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Graduate Attribute examples - Social responsibility, inter-personal skills, leading others, and oral communication

 

Springfield After School Family Club

Venue: Springfield Community Church, Manse Road, Springfield, KY15 5RY

The Springfield After School Club is a fun and vibrant session for all young children with a Springfield connection and their families. The children are mainly primary and nursery age and must be accompanied by a responsible adult. The Club meets on Monday afternoons in the lovely Springfield Community Church from 3pm until 5pm during term time. The Club also provides an opportunity for parents/carers to spend time with their families, whilst socialising with each other over a cup of tea, coffee and snacks.

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They are looking for volunteers who could assist from approximately 2.30pm until 5.15pm. You will be part of a small team providing a safe and welcoming space; assisting where appropriate with craft activities, games and a nursery play area; assisting with serving snacks, and with setting up and clearing away.

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Experience of working with children and families is desirable but not essential. They would like the volunteer to be a person with a caring, flexible and outgoing attitude. A person who enjoys having fun with young children. An interest in simple craft activities would be helpful.

Unfortunately, they are unable to assist with transport. However, there is good bus service between St. Andrews and Springfield. (Transport details below). They will be flexible with the time you are able to provide to the Club, knowing the issues that can be experienced by bus travel. So please don’t be worried about being late, etc. Just keep in touch.

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Transport to Venue

94A Bus from St Andrews to Springfield: 1:47pm-2:38pm

64 Bus from Springfield to St Andrews: 5:24pm-6:23pm

Or own personal means of transport

They require prospective volunteers to complete an application form, provide references and attend an interview. You will also have to have a PVG check for safeguarding purposes, which is provided free of charge for volunteers. You will be given an induction, an opportunity to shadow other volunteers and will be supervised.

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Graduate Attribute examples - Social responsibility, inter-personal skills, leading others, and oral communication

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Fife Young Carers

Fife Young Carers (FYC) offers a Befriender and Young Carer the opportunity to form a trusting, supportive, reliable relationship. This role enables young carers to access social activities they might not be able to access currently. Befrienders might take a young person to a Café arcades, bowling or even just a walk as well as group activities and days out organised by FYC. What's important is that it allows them to have fun and spend some time away from their caring role. Most befriending activities will take place in the evening although there will be more morning and afternoon opportunities during holidays/weekends.

Young Carers are children and young people aged up to 25 years old who look after a parent or family member who are unwell, have a disability, mental ill health or drug and alcohol use. Young Carers may cook, clean, give medicines, do the shopping and take on other responsibilities that parents usually do. 

​​A Befriender should have the following: If you have these skills apply now! Must be 18+, A warm and friendly personality, Strong communicator, Reliable, Ability to listen and show empathy, Respect confidentiality, Independence to work alone with support of Volunteer Coordinator. Experience dealing with children/young people would be great although not required as full training is provided. FYC would expect a commitment of at least one activity a month as a Befriender, although ideally it would be 1 a week depending on the needs of the befriendee. FYC will reimburse private car mileage at 45p per mile or public transport with receipt of a valid ticket.

There is also the opportunity to volunteer as a standard volunteer at the main groups that happen every week in St Andrews. These groups usually take place from 6pm until 8pm. There are also other groups and trip volunteers who can potentially attend throughout the year which can happen at various times throughout the day. Commitment for these groups is not as necessary as being a Befriender. Volunteers would just need to communicate to the main worker when they were able to attend. 

To ensure the safety of the Young Carers, Befriending Volunteers can only join FYC after they have completed the Safer Recruitment process. This involves: Informal interview, Receipt of two satisfactory references, A satisfactory PVG is received which is covered free of charge by FYC, Ongoing Training, which involves Child protection and young adult training and lasts approx. 3 hours, and Ongoing review of service. 

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Graduate Attribute examples - reslieince, organisation skills, confidence and adaptability, social responsibility, diversity awareness, and inter-personal skills

 

GirlGuiding St Andrews - SPACES FULL AT THE MOMENT

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Venue: Greenside Place, St Andrews

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By volunteering with GirlGuiding, you will be helping girls build their confidence, have adventures and learn new skills. It doesn’t matter what your experience or background is, or how much time you have. Volunteering for GirlGuiding is a great way of meeting new people and taking a break from your daily routine. You can also build your own skills by taking our leadership development qualification, becoming a first aider or qualified outdoor activity instructor.

There is no requirement to have been involved in guiding before to become a volunteer. Although some of their roles are women-only, there are opportunities for men too. There are the following roles available:

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Unit leader: Get creative, have fun and be an inspiring role model to girls and young women. As unit leader, you'll be responsible for running the unit, leading a team, and planning and delivering a high-quality programme of activities and events.

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Unit helper: If you're enthusiastic about giving girls opportunities for fun, friendship, challenge and adventure then you'll make a perfect unit helper. You'll provide valuable support to the unit leadership team. And you'll be key in providing the extra help needed to make unit meetings and events happen. Plus, you'll get to know the girls and other volunteers, and be part of the Girlguiding community.

Supported volunteer: This role would be suitable for anyone who would otherwise not be able to carry out the full responsibilities of a volunteer role without support. You will not have any responsibility for safeguarding and do not need to complete a safe space training. As a supported volunteer, you’ll be supported by an individual volunteer.

Timings of the groups are the following:

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Tuesday

• 4pm-5:15pm: Rainbows (ages 4-7)

• 5:30pm-7:15pm: Brownies (ages 7-10)

Wednesday

• 4pm-5:15pm: Rainbows

• 6:30pm-8pm: Guides (ages 10-14)

Friday

• 5:45pm-7:15pm: Brownies

• 7:15pm-8:45pm: Guides

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Prospective volunteers will have a chat with someone from the GirlGuiding team where you can let GirlGuiding know about your skills and how much time you have to spare. This will help GirlGuiding to find the right volunteer role for you and start their recruitment check process. The volunteer will then need to have a Scottish Disclosure check which is paid for by GirlGuiding, provide a reference which is an online one generated by GirlGuiding UK and then complete two safe space trainings which are online and take approximately 20 mins each.

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Graduate Attribute examples - Leading others, inter-personal skills, and resilience

 

Families First

Families First (FF) offer three services: befriending (for kids aged 5-11 years old), youth groups (for kids aged 12-16 years old) and a family support service for parents. FF recommends that students only work as volunteers in the befriending and youth group services.

Befriending sessions take place every fortnight between the befriender and befriendee. Sessions last 1.5 hours with a brief and debrief (2 hours). Youth groups happen the same time every fortnight and the volunteer will work with the same group of 8 children. Every volunteer is matched with a child, who they will shadow during the session.

All children and young people who are referred to FF face challenges around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) such as experience of trauma, neurodiverse conditions, isolation, low self-esteem and confidence, mental health challenges, behavioural difficulties and abuse.

Volunteers are asked during the application process about their experiences or anything that they would find challenging to work with - this means that if someone specifically wanted to note their interest in befriending a child with a particular additional need, either due to previous experience or future plans, FF could try to make this possible.

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FF requires their volunteers to be able to commit to a minimum of one academic year as it takes time to build a relationship with the children/young people they will be supporting, and to a minimum of 2 hours a fortnight, plus additional time for supervision and briefing sessions. However, if the volunteer was interested in committing more time, there are opportunities for this. FF expects their volunteers to be positive, non-judgemental role models, to be consistent and keep in contact with staff.

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The application process involves: Completing the application form, self-disclosure and volunteer agreement, providing 2 references (from past employers, other supervisors from voluntary positions, lecturers or teachers, club leaders), Completing a PVG application form (There is currently no cost to the volunteer), Attending an informal interview and Completing Families First training. The All-Day session covers Child & Adult Protection, Children’s Services, Managing Behaviour and Positive Endings and is followed by Induction training which is held on a separate evening. This coming October the training is on a Saturday (Sat 12th). The induction training and pizza night is on the following Monday evening (14th 5:30-7:30), so hopefully people can attend that after university/work etc. If FF has a significant amount of volunteers unavailable, they would consider doing another one, but they would appreciate it if everyone could make that time. All their training is currently in person.

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1:1 Befriending sessions generally take place between 3.30 – 5pm Monday to Friday either in the Rose Lane Centre or out in the local community. Youth Group sessions are held on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6.30 – 8pm in the Rose Lane Centre or out in the local community. FF’s Family Support Coordinator also runs a parents and carers lunch group which takes place on Thursdays between 12.30 – 2pm and is held in St Andrews Baptist Church. FF are looking for enthusiastic people who are willing to chat to come along to these sessions and offer their support. Additional regular opportunities include volunteer drivers and admin volunteers. Both Befriending and Youth Groups run during the school term time. FF ask that volunteers would communicate with the staff about when they won't be available so that we can prepare for that.

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Options for one-off volunteering would be through Friends of Families First. This group runs coffee mornings twice a year, which volunteers could be involved with. This is not working with children but raising awareness and fundraising for the organisation. Other irregular opportunities include helping with summer holiday activities, and family days.

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Graduate Attribute examples - inter-personal skills, resilience, social responsibility, and creativity

 

Active Schools Fife

Fife’s Active Schools team work with primary, secondary and additional support needs schools to increase the quality and range of opportunities to participate in sport before school, during lunchtime and after school.

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Volunteers have the opportunity to volunteer with Fife Active Schools in any sporting area. Volunteering usually takes place before school, lunchtimes and after school, apart from occasional events that take place during the day. There is also the opportunity for pupils to work with hard to reach groups during curricular and extracurricular time, developing their delivery skills and providing volunteers with valuable resources.

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Active Schools Fife have multiple locations across the area in which students can volunteer at: Madras College, Canongate, Lawhead, Greyfriars, Strathkinness, Guradbridge, Leuchars, Kingsbarns

Volunteers can volunteer at anytime but the most desired times are:

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• Before School: 8:30am-9am

• Lunchtime: 12:30pm-1:20pm

• After School: 3pm-4pm

• Cluster Club (Madras Based): 4pm-5pm

• Targeted Curriculum work: 9am-3pm

  • Together We Can: a pupils-centred programme to support those across P5-7 facing barriers to participating in sport.

  • Physical Literacy: a P1-3 based programme that looks to support pupils in developing the key fundamental skills for sport to ensure lifelong participation and equity.

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Active Schools Fife will go through all options with each volunteer to find something that suits them best to ensure that they have the best volunteer experience. Volunteers can volunteer for 4 week, 6 week or termly blocks and Active Schools Fife can tailor the times of sessions to suit any other commitments that volunteers may have going on.

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There are opportunities for one off events that Active Schools Fife run across their cluster, usually at Madras. These are often, transition (P7-S1), Football, Rugby, Netball and Basketball. For events, these can be anytime within the year, usually 2 or 3 a term. There are opportunities for students to lead sessions with pupils and to support them at regional events. Students do not require any coaching badges or qualifications to work with Active Schools Fife. This can be something that Active Schools Fife can support with if the volunteer was interested.

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In order to be a volunteer Active Schools Fife requires students to "apply" for the role and undergo a PVG check all of which is paid for by Fife Council.

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Graduate Attribute examples - influencing and negotiation, inter-personal skills, and creativity

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Scouts Scotland

Venue- 16 East Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9BE

Scouts Scotland has united based in St Andrews (8th Fife Scouts), that volunteers can help out at: Beavers (6-8), Cubs (8-10), Scouts (10-14), and Explorers (14-17).

The units meet weekly during term time and there is at least one group meeting every weekday evening.

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At each session, there are roughly 2-4 adults, 1-2 young leaders and 20 kids. Volunteers are also able to volunteer to help run the Scouts camps at weekend or in the School holidays, if this is something they are interested in. Many volunteers work with two or more sections. In particular the two Wednesday sections are run by one team and they mostly stay for both age groups. Still, if a volunteer wanted to work just with the cubs, or could not get there early enough and just wanted to come in time for Scouts most weeks, that is no problem.

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There are other Scout groups in Cupar, Leuchars, Balmullo, Tayport, Newport and Pittenweem, if these locations are easier for prospective volunteers.

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There are also opportunities for behind-the-scenes volunteer roles such as managing and refilling stocks, cleaning the hall or setting up a maintainable and up-to-date website. Also if any volunteers are qualified kayak instructors, mountain leaders or first aid qualified, there is the opportunity to run sessions with the kids and teach them their skills. If a group of volunteers want to run a project for the year and they have some relevant scouting experience, there is the possibility of setting up a Squirrel unit for 4-5 year olds or starting up a third Scout troop.

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The application process will be a conversion with Scouts Scotland about which section the volunteer is interested in, a Disclosure check (which Scouts pay for) and Training, which includes 4 hours of e-learning courses and a one day in-person first aid course at the weekend.

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Scouts Scotland do not expect volunteers, especially students, to commit to 100% attendance or come to camps. The most important thing is that volunteers let the Lead Volunteer running the section know if they will not be able to come and come when they can. Their meetings follow the school year, which is a bit longer than the university one, and summer is an especially great time for camps, but they are used to working around the constraints of student volunteers and they can plan the programme accordingly.

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Graduate Attribute examples - creativity, inter-personal skills, effective team contribution, leading others, recognition of opportunities, confidence, and adaptability