Dear Annette,
I would like to apply for a Friends of the University grant on behalf of the University’s ‘Students in Schools’ volunteering scheme. Every year we place hundreds of student volunteers in local schools where they offer a wide range of 1:1 or small group classroom support. Collectively they spend around 6,000 hours helping Reading’s schoolchildren. Volunteers help in a variety of ways, from helping young children learning to read to GCSE revision sessions. Many of our multi-lingual students provide 1:1 support to children with limited and sometimes no English. Not only does our support help local schoolchildren and schools it also helps students develop a number of transferable skills notably in their self-confidence and communication skills.
Since the start of the pandemic we have been unable to provide any form in class support but based on discussions with participating schools we have started to produce a range of student led online ‘Subject Snippets’. These resources (which are currently for primary school children) include a number of activities, a short video and cover a range of topics including:-
- Short introductions to specific subjects eg pharmacology, philosophy, English literature and climate change (see an example here)
- Language resources with a video recording in a number of different languages. These include a ‘Welcome to your new school’ message with tips on how to settle in as well as story readings (see a Portuguese example here)
It has become increasingly apparent over the last few months that these resources will still have a role to play in providing support to our local schools even when the pandemic is over. We have found a significant challenge in producing these materials has been the variable standard of video recordings our students have been able to create. To make it easier for them we are hoping to invest in a small set of equipment which students could use to record their videos. We would like to purchase the following items for use when recording with a mobile phone:–
Desk top tripod Floor standing tripod Ring light External microphone Lapel microphone with lead (mainly for filming outdoors)
A grant of £300 would enable us to buy suitably robust and good quality equipment which would help our students create better quality videos. I do hope this provides your with enough information and that you will decide this is an appropriate initiative for a grant.
Kind Regards
Judy
Judy MacDevitt
Students in Schools Co-ordinator
Admissions, Miller Building
University of Reading | PO Box 217 | RG6 6AH
Tel: +44 (0) 118 378 6144
Like Students in Schools on Facebook
