Voluntary Service - Royal Grammar School Newcastle

RGS students have long been involved in volunteering projects outside of the classroom. We can look back to the 1940s, when wartime evacuee students volunteered to help Penrith farmers during the harvests. A Young Volunteer Force (YVF) was set up by students around 1968 and continued into the 1970s.

Later, Dr Hazel Jones-Lee (1984-2009) took up the leadership of Voluntary Service at RGS, transforming it into a significant part of student life. In partnership with different organisations, these projects had impact for many people outside of RGS, as well as the student volunteers themselves.

Voluntary Service at RGS

by Dr Hazel Jones-Lee

Where did it all start? In the late 1980s, a request came round asking for someone to take on Voluntary Service as John Hewitt (staff 1979-1990), the master in charge, was retiring. I don’t think anyone had come forward when I had my first appraisal with Alister Cox (staff 1972-1994) and John Armstrong (staff 1972-2003) a few weeks later. When they reached the point of, ‘Is there anything you would like to ask us?’ I took a deep breath. Coming from a school in Manchester where community service was taken seriously, I said that I would like to take up Voluntary Service, but only on the condition that it could be expanded significantly and incorporated into the timetable as an alternative to Wednesday afternoon Games in the Sixth Form. Knowing that I was treading on hallowed territory, I said that I would promise not to accept anyone from any of the School’s First Team players. I think Alister was a bit surprised, but he agreed.

*Photograph of Headmaster Alister Cox and student rowing for charity, during Charities Week c.1990. RGS Archives [ref: Acc 0125]*

*Junior Novo Charities Week Special, 1991. RGS Archives [ref: Acc 0125]*

The first and most difficult job was to find placements for the volunteers, but the Percy Hedley School for the Deaf (now Northern Counties School) agreed to give it a try.

Toby Sweet (ON 1983-1990) and Simon Taylor (ON 1980-1990) became my first recruits, helping in the classroom and with the children’s swimming. Shortly afterwards, the Adult and Secondary branches of Percy Hedley took students to help with life skills. It opened my eyes and that of our students to the potential impact of sensory stimulus on individuals who have profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), who have higher learning support needs and may have greater difficulty communicating.

Working on the premise that the host placements should either be near the RGS or the Sixth formers’ homes, I approached Monkchester Road Nursery in Walker. Its Head Teacher didn’t really approve of independent schools, but agreed to give it a go. They became one of our strongest supporters, feeling that the volunteers demonstrated educational opportunities beyond their children's imaginations. The importance of ensuring that schools had the right DBS support system in place became clear to me during this time, ensuring that there was always a professional on hand to guide. As the projects started to show success, one Headteacher spoke with another and they became our best recruiting sergeants, with several primary schools in the West End in particular asking if they could have some of our volunteers - at that stage all boys. ‘The suits’ as one school called them!

A chance comment from one of the boys on a placement to help with Maths at Westgate Comprehensive who told me that many of the children had no difficulty with the Maths, but simply couldn’t read the questions, further refined our direction.

From that point, I directed all enquiries to primary schools’ reading programmes, leading to what I felt was our greatest success - participating in a structured reading programme at Atkinson Road Primary. This was where our Sixth Formers went on both Wednesday afternoons and in some of the General Studies slots. As a result, Year 6 students received one-to-one short sessions twice a week from our students and once a week from staff, and showed an average gain in reading age of 30 months in the period from September to March, with some making as much as 48 months. The Head Teacher and I delivered our results to a national conference in Darlington.

*Photograph of the Charities Week Rock Concert, c.2000s. RGS Archives [ref: Acc 0125]*

It wasn’t all about placements. At that time, most year groups from Year 9 to 13 had end of term exams at Christmas and I felt that they deserved some light relief, therefore I borrowed the idea of a Charities Week from another HMC School - I think Sevenoaks. It went from a very few activities, such as football (popular as it was not part of the syllabus) to raffles, cake sales, a non-uniform day and the front of hall rock concert on the Friday, all boy-led. I think Alister Cox was horrified at the idea of the concert, with concerns about riotous behaviour and possible damage to the school’s portraits, but thanks to the support of a few staff and the general good humour we ensured that nothing got out of hand. Several Central High girls came across, but we charged them on the door.

I remember counting that first week’s take with Simon and Toby in the old English book room and one of them gasping, ‘I think we might have made a thousand pounds.’ That increased significantly with the years, but the principle for beneficiaries was always the same: local charities recommended by any student in the school.

I am heartened that these beginnings have now developed into the extensive outreach programme of which the School should feel proud.