Volunteering in School

Our school, its families and the wider community work in partnership to realise the greatest possible outcomes for all of our children. We welcome the voluntary involvement of parents, carers, grandparents, friends and members of the local community in helping both during school time and/or at out of school activities.

Opportunities always exist to assist with classroom activities, transporting children to events, hearing readers, displaying work, etc. If you have a particular skill to share, for instance an artist, dance teacher or dramatist, we would welcome your help with particular events or projects.

All regular volunteer helpers are subject to the same legally required safeguarding checks in the same manner as has been undertaken on all staff at our school, in order to ensure the ongoing safety and protection of our children.

To this end we require comprehensive contact details as well as up to date Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificates for anyone regularly volunteering on the school site.

If you would like to volunteer here at Etchingham CE School, the process is outlined below.

Speak to the School Office to determine whether a suitable subject area/activity/day of the week is available in which to volunteer:

Complete the East Sussex County Council (ESCC) volunteering application form which can be obtained from the School Office or below and return to the Office.

Volunteer Application Form 2019 ESCC

You will need to make an appointment with the School Office to complete an online DBS application. You will be required to bring original copies of ID as shown below.

At least one document from Group 1 PLUS 2 documents from either Group 1 or Group 2a or Group 2b; one of which must verify the your current address;
If you are unable to provide a document from Group 1, you must provide at least one document from Group 2a PLUS 2 documents from either Group 2a or 2b; one of which must verify your current address.

Group 1 - Primary Trusted Identity Credentials

Current valid Passport;
Biometric Residence Permit (UK);
Current Driving Licence (UK) (Full or Provisional) Isle of Man/Channel Islands;
Birth Certificate (UK & Channel Islands) - issued at the time of birth.

**Full or short form acceptable including those issued by the UK authorities overseas, such as Embassies, High Commissions and HM Forces (Photocopies are not acceptable).

Group 2a - Trusted Government/State Issued Documents

Current UK Driving Licence (Old style paper version);
Current Non-UK Photo Driving Licence (Valid for up to 12 months from the date the applicant entered the UK);
Birth Certificate (UK & Channel Islands) - issued after the time of birth by the General Register Office/relevant authority, i.e. Registrars - photocopies are not acceptable);
Marriage/Civil Partnerships Certificate (UK and Channel Islands);
Adoption Certificate (UK and Channel Islands);
HM Forces ID Card (UK);
Fire Arms Licence (UK and Channel Islands).

Group 2b - Financial/Social History Documents

Mortgage Statement (UK or EEA)** (Non-EEA statements are not acceptable);
Bank/Building Society Statement (UK or EEA)* (Non-EEA statements are not acceptable);
Bank/Building Society Account Opening Confirmation Letter (UK);
Credit Card Statement (UK or EEA)* (Non-EEA statements are not acceptable);
Financial Statement, e.g. pension, endowment, ISA (UK)**;
P45/P60 Statement (UK & Channel Islands)**;
Council Tax Statement (UK & channel Islands)**;
Work Permit/Visa (UK) (UK Residence Permit) (Valid up to expiry date);
Letter of sponsorship from future employment provider (Non-UK/Non-EEA only - valid only for applicants residing outside of the UK at time of applicant);
Utility Bill (UK) - Not Mobile Phone*;
Benefit Statement, e.g. Child Allowance, Pension*;
A document from Central/Local Government/Government Agency/Local Authority giving entitlement (UK & Channel Islands), e.g. from the Department for Work and Pensions, the Employment Service, Customs & Revenue, Job Centre, Job Centre Plus, Social Security*;
EU National ID Card;
Cards carrying the PASS accreditation logo (UK and Channel Islands); Letter from Head Teacher or College Principal (16 - 19 year olds in full-time education - (Only used in exceptional circumstances when all other documents have been exhausted) (UK).

Note: If a document in the List of Valid Identity Documents is:

Denoted with * - it should be less than three months old;

Denoted with ** - it should be issued within the past 12 months;

Not denoted - it can be more than 12 months old.

We will need your volunteering application form, references and original copies of your identity documents before we can start the online DBS application process;

The DBS certificate will be posted to your home address. Once you have received it, you will need to bring it to us to be copied and sent to ESCC. ESCC will then confirm the date you can start volunteering and we will let you know;
A record will be created for you on our personnel system, we will then write to you every term (three times a year) to check if you wish to continue volunteering. In this way we will have a thorough database of everyone who contributes to our students learning and enrichment.

Please note: A DBS application can sometimes take a few weeks to process (depending on the amount of applications received by the DBS Service) so please bear this in mind when working out the start date you wish to volunteer from. You will be unable to start volunteering until we have seen your original DBS certificate.