About
Haywood Grove School is a community that serves primary-aged children with significant social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and their families.
We have a passionate conviction that all ...
Reading Ambassadors
Scan me or visit www.govolherts.org.uk/o/Haywood-Grove-Specialist-School/opportunities/Reading-Ambassadors/62648 to join
Contact person
Summary
Reading Ambassadors help our struggling readers to flourish by building trusting relationships with the children and supporting their development in reading.Detailed description
Typically our children have struggled with learning to read in mainstream school and we are very keen to change that. Our children are happy to read with people they like and enjoy being read to. We are looking for volunteers who are able to:
build relationships with our children who have social and emotional challenges
encourage and motivate our children to read regularly so that they can develop this crucial skill
look after our small library and home reading materials
Everyone is welcome at Haywood Grove and we hope that any volunteer would start to feel part of a passionate team of people who want to make a real difference to children's lives. Any volunteer with us would develop key skills and a deeper understanding of what it takes to work with children with social and emotional challenges (many of whom have experienced trauma or who have medical conditions that can impact on their mental health).
We are always open to creative ideas and are open and flexible - our last two volunteers who came to work in classroom are now fully-fledged play therapists employed at our school.
We welcome people who are representative of modern Britain and who may be under-represented in the workforce.
What we will provide to volunteers
💸 Reimbursement of costsAbout Haywood Grove Specialist School
We have a passionate conviction that all our children and community can achieve. We are optimistic about success and accept no restriction on what is possible for all people in our community. We work respectfully and responsively with our families to ensure that the impact of our support can be seen both at school and home.
We demonstrate high expectations for every child, through a high-quality creative curriculum and flexible and imaginative teaching that addresses each individual child’s learning and social, emotional, and sensory needs. We get to know the children’s talents, their strengths and their weaknesses and build their learning around these, in addition to facilitating the accumulation of knowledge and skills across a broad and balanced range of subjects. We do the same for all community members.
We view behavioural challenges as regulatory issues and address all behaviours that would not be right for a safe and civil society. We provide the right kind of support, at the right time, in the right way such that children learn to regulate their own behaviour through internal control within the context of healthy and secure relationships, rather than by external force. We make sure all our community members know how to stay regulated so that they can best help our children.
We view behaviour as communication of thoughts and feelings, we listen to what children say and what they don’t say, and we engage in collaborative problem-solving with them, to find solutions. We understand that their behaviour is driven by high levels of stress and support and teach them the explicit skills they need to return to a state of calm alert, ready for learning.
We prepare our children for the next part of their educational journey and beyond, shaping their lives for the better. They become independent, resourceful, resilient and humane members of the wider world. They know their own worth and the positive contribution they can make to their own families and to a civil society.
Everyone is made to feel welcome at Haywood Grove.