Our volunteer agreement is the basis on which we involve people as volunteers. It tells you what you can expect from us, and the expectations we have of you as a volunteer delivering our service to children in our partner primary schools.

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Reading Helper Role Description 

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Volunteers are an essential and valued part of Coram Beanstalk. We appreciate your commitment, dedication and enthusiasm, and in return we will do the best we can to make your volunteer experience with us enjoyable and rewarding.

At Coram Beanstalk our volunteer relationship is built on trust and mutual understanding, honesty and fairness. We exist to support children and will always place their needs at the centre of any decision-making process that affects our volunteers.  

What you can expect from Coram Beanstalk:

Induction and training

• Provide the initial and ongoing training you need to perform your role well and understand the Beanstalk approach.
• Treat you fairly and with integrity and not progress you into a school placement if we feel you will not thrive in the volunteer role. 
• Give you enough information about the role and expectations to allow you to decide if it is a good fit for you.

Support and guidance

• Be available to offer you support and guidance within your role should you encounter any difficulties.
• Enable connection with our reading community via our online portal, and the opportunity to join online sessions.
• Help you be the best you can be in your volunteering role(s) through access to a range of resources and development opportunities. 
• Explain the standards we expect for our services and support you to achieve and maintain them. 
• Keep you informed of any possible changes to your volunteer role. 
• Seek, respect, listen and learn from your feedback. 

Diversity and Equal Opportunities

• Ensure that diversity is valued and everyone is dealt with in accordance with our equal opportunities and diversity policy.

Safeguarding and safer practice

• Ensure that you are aware of and following our Safeguarding and Safer Working Practice Guide designed to promote the welfare of the children we help and protect them from harm. These also safeguard and protect our staff and our volunteers. We will require you to commit to these annually. 

Insurance

• Provide adequate insurance cover for volunteers whilst carrying out their volunteering roles.

Problems and complaints

• Try to resolve promptly any difficulties, and to deal fairly with any complaints, you may have while you volunteer with us.
• In the event of an unresolved problem, to offer an opportunity to discuss, or escalate, the issues in accordance with our complaint procedure.

Policies

• Operate within all Coram’s and Coram Beanstalk’s policies and procedures at all times. Relevant policies are shared with you, available on our website and are always available from us on request.

What we expect from you:

Performance

• Follow our reading for pleasure approach to give children a positive reading experience.
• Be an ambassador for Coram Beanstalk, always being positive and supportive of our organisation and professional in both your appearance and manner. 
• Perform your volunteering role reliably and to the best of your ability, with dedication, positivity and a commitment to attend each week during the majority of the school year.  Maintain and improve your skills, and keep up-to-date with changes, through regularly accessing our online resource portal, participating in our training and development opportunities and by reading information sent from us to your registered email address.  
• Meet the time commitment, duration of association and standards of service which you have agreed with us and your school. 
• Conduct yourself in an appropriate manner at all times, treat everyone with dignity and respect and refrain from anything that may be deemed as inappropriate, unfriendly, potentially abusive or that places you or another person at a risk of harm. 

Communication  

• Actively seek and share feedback on the difference you are making to children to help us evidence the benefits of our service, and respond to our annual impact survey.  
• Let Coram Beanstalk know if you have any complaints, concerns or feedback 
• Inform your school and us (via email or phone), if you are able if you are unable to attend on a particular day or for a specific period. 
• Give us as much notice as possible if you are unable to continue as a volunteer, ideally at least one term. This gives us best chance to ensure continuity for the children.

Safeguarding, policies and confidentiality 

• Report any safeguarding concerns or health and safety concerns to the designated person within your school before leaving the premises.
• Report safeguarding concerns to Coram Beanstalk by telephone as soon as possible, as per our Safeguarding and Safer Working Practice Guide. 
• Operate within Coram’s and Coram Beanstalk’s policies and procedures at all times, being especially aware of our Safeguarding and Safer Working Practice Guide. 
• Maintain confidentiality of the children we support, our schools, our team of staff and fellow volunteers. 
• Use your Coram Beanstalk training and resources only in your role as a reading helper. As we incur significant costs in your training and support, we ask that you do not become an independent volunteer using our expertise.  

In line with safer recruitment guidelines we require you to:

• Enable us to secure two appropriate references. 
• Undergo an initial Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and subscribe to the update service via a digital route with our approved provider. 
• Inform us of any changes such as new convictions or investigations within 2 weeks.  
• Advise us of any changes to your health that could affect your volunteering within two weeks of diagnosis. 

Nature of this agreement  

This agreement aims to ensure that the relationship between Coram Beanstalk and a volunteer is clear to both parties and does not create a contract of employment nor a legally binding obligation. Either party may end the volunteering agreement at any time.  

No enforceable obligation, contractual or otherwise, can be imposed on volunteers to attend, give or be set a minimum amount of time to carry out the activity requested.  

Coram Beanstalk does not undertake to provide regular activity or payment or other benefit for any volunteering undertaken.