Volunteers get green to make a difference

Green fingered volunteers at Teesside University have been supporting National Student Volunteering Week by revamping the outside area of a local primary school.

The students spent time at Breckon Hill Primary School sprucing up the playground tunnels, planting new raised flower beds and weaving willow trees.

They are on Teesside University’s Volun-tees programme which aims to support staff, students and recent graduates to engage in volunteering activities. This academic year Volun-tees members have amassed over 5,500 hours of volunteering at organisations including the Samaritans, Unicorn Centre and Victim Support.

The project at Breckon Hill Primary School involved 12 student volunteers and took place in conjunction with National Student Volunteering Week, which ran from 23 February to 1 March.

During the day support was on hand from One Planet Middlesbrough who helped a team of year six pupils to compost waste paper and banana skins and apple cores from the daily fruit provision. Cherry Diemoz, Headteacher at Breckon Hill Primary School, said: 'I would like to say a big thank you to all the students and organisers who gave up their time to give our grounds a makeover, the children and staff think it looks amazing.'

Sam Piggot, one of the student volunteers, said: 'It was a lot of fun - it feels good to help people in my free time and it's a great way to gain experience and build confidence in different working environments.'

The Volun-tees scheme at Teesside University encourages people to develop their employability skills through volunteering and many members have gone on to gain permanent employment as a direct result of their volunteering efforts.

Jayne Golden, Volunteer Project Co-ordinator at Teesside University, said: 'This has been a fantastic project in collaboration with One Planet Middlesbrough and Breckon Hill Primary School. The volunteers thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the day and feel they made a real impact at the school.

'This academic year has seen University students record over 5,500 hours of volunteering both on and off campus. Our volunteers have been supporting over 180 registered charities and organisations that have provided fantastic experiences which help to improve their employability skills and make University life that little bit more interesting.'

Joe Dunne, from One Planet Middlesbrough, added: 'Schools generate massive amounts of waste paper, cardboard and now fruit waste. It is wonderful to see the school introduce a system to reduce the amount they throw away and turn it into something very useful. The pupils will now take composting on as their project, and help other pupils put the correct things in the compost bins.'

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