June 4, 2014, by offcampus

Student Volunteering: Nottingham Education and Health Support

The Nottingham Education and Health Support (NHES) is a registered charity whose main aims are to see young people and their families overcoming severe educational, health, language and economic barriers to achieve their true potential. NHES believe that no young person should be disadvantaged by their background and provide a wide range of activities to target those most in need across Nottingham, providing academic support, health advice and accessible activities to help develop skills.

Parvez Khan from NHES says, “The programme is doing wonderfully …. We have expanded more than we thought possible in 8 months since April and this could not have been possible without our volunteers. Students have been excellent, dedicated and focussed.”

Today we’re delighted to welcome Selorm Tay to the blog, who will be talking about his experience of volunteering with NHES. 

I started volunteering with the NHES just before the Easter break in my first year.  I went on to the University of Nottingham SU website and came across the scheme and it immediately appealed to me because I would be helping students further their education and that was something I felt passionate about.

Volunteering with the NHES has been very beneficial to me as I have been able to mentor and teach students who are in a position I was in not too long ago. I started the scheme mentoring and assisting with mathematics and since that is my current degree I found it very rewarding. I have worked mainly with students at GCSE and A Level stage at both ends of the spectrum. Some of the students I have come across didn’t necessarily like maths but are now more interested in it and I have also worked with extremely talented children who just need a little push to further their potential. One student in particular that I worked with last year while she was doing her A Levels is now at university in Leicester and is a volunteer on the scheme! It’s things like that that make volunteering so rewarding – you are able to see the results of your work.

Since I started I have seen the scheme grow immensely. We now have university students leading lessons, particularly in science, as well as the introduction of debate amongst the students on the scheme. I have seen a big improvement from when I started and this was made even more evident when ex-students from the scheme who are now working came back and said how much it has changed! Now, because there are so many volunteers we are able to do a lot more.

In regards to the next stage I am hoping to see more first year volunteers and have more university student run lessons on topics that the pupils are struggling in. I also am hoping that the NHES will be given its own module in regards to the Nottingham Advantage Award which will benefit our volunteers.

Overall my volunteering experience has extremely positive as it has helped me improve my leadership skills, teamwork and team-building skills and also organisation. I have had the pleasure of working with many different people, both students and volunteers  and I will continue working with this scheme in my third year and hope to see even more improvement.

If you’re interested in volunteering on this scheme, or finding out more about what’s on offer from the Student Volunteer Centre, visit their website for more information.

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