Volunteering opportunities

Volunteering is a great way to share your skills for the benefit of others, whilst building a talking point for your CV.

What are the benefits?

Make a difference
Give back to the community
Gain valuable work experience
Develop skills that help improve your employability
Meet new people and expand your network

School of English volunteering schemes

The Literacy Support Project

The Literacy Support Project helps to raise literacy standards in local primary and secondary schools.

Get accredited

There's also a 'Literacy Volunteers' module available to those who volunteer as part of the Nottingham Advantage Award. This allows you to gain formal accreditation for your voluntary work.

I gained transferable skills such as confidence, active-listening, and the ability to motivate, encourage and inspire.

Charlotte Moore, project participant

Vikings for Schools and Anglo-Saxons for Schools

Staff and students of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age host various Viking workshops and Anglo-Saxon workshops for primary schools.

Through workshops, the children learn about the Vikings and their relevance for their own history and culture. At the same time they are introduced to the various academic disciplines that provide knowledge about the Viking Age, such as archaeology and the study of language and literature.

Peer mentoring

Second- and final-year students can act as peer mentors to new students. Peer mentors offer support and guidance to new students, helping them settle into university life.

Get accredited

There's also a 'Peer Mentoring for English' module available as part of the Nottingham Advantage Award. This allows you to get formal accreditation for the work you do with peer mentoring.

I used the scheme in my first year and learnt some valuable information into the academic and social side of university life. As a final year student, I became a peer mentor and was able to offer advice to first years in an informal and friendly way.
Emily Hall, peer mentor

Shared Reading Groups

We take part in two shared reading group initiatives. These aim to engage with the local community and promote the health benefits of reading aloud in group contexts.

They are:

The Dementia Reading Group
The Communtiy Reading Group

Trying to get as many people as possible to engage in this activity, handle some unexpected situations, and perform very well without supervision are some of the things I have managed to develop and practise thanks to this scheme.

Kushulla Rraku, Dementia Reading Group