Volunteering

• working in the classroom, resource centre or tuckshop
• providing a lunch club activity for students at break time
• covering or repairing books at home for the reading room
• taking a position on our P&C

To make your volunteering time more enjoyable:

• Always sign in at the office. This enables us to account for you in case of an emergency or an evacuation drill.
• To make best use of your time, it is better if visits to classrooms are prearranged and scheduled in negotiation with class teachers. The school day is a busy one and sometimes off the cuff or unexpected visits are difficult to integrate!
• If you have any behaviour concerns with children that are not able to be managed with a polite request to stay on task/co-operate/listen, then please refer these to the teacher immediately.
• Volunteers are respectfully asked not to discipline children themselves (this includes raising voices or physically handling students). Ask yourself if you would be happy to have a parent volunteer address your child in that way.
• Always refer to the teacher when increasing the level of work for a child you may be working with (e.g. reading levels). Teachers use a range of information to determine appropriate work for students.
• Avoid any critical or negative comments (about students work, dress, food, etc.) to children or to their parents. Please notify the class teacher about any problems or concerns.​
  
• Avoid physical contact with students (including sitting on laps and cuddling in the lower grades).
• Be mindful of inappropriate language when speaking to students. These days families have different views about which words are acceptable for children.Your interactions with children should be regarded as confidential. Reporting to parents about a child’s performance on a task or their behaviour is the role of the classroom teacher.

Prep volunteers

Parents will be informed when the teachers are ready to being parent helpers. This is usually about a month into the school year when the children have settled into the routines.

Voluntary workers and visitors to school

All voluntary workers at the school must report to Reception in the administration Block to sign the Voluntary Worker’s Register. P & C Association insurance includes school Voluntary workers. The QCPCA Insurance update 1994-95 quotes: To facilitate this cover, all should sign a “Register of Attendance”.

Before commencing any voluntary work in the school, adults who are not parents, must complete a Application for Suitability Notice for a Volunteer form (available from the school office). This is commonly known as an application for a Blue Card. This is then forwarded to the Commission for Children & Young People for processing. When we gain written approval, this person is then permitted to undertake volunteer work in the school.

Visitors to the school must report to reception. Education Queensland regulations state that only Education Queensland employees are permitted to have access to all areas of the school. Entry to all other areas of the school is permitted only on official business.