What was the community impact of your volunteering project? Parents loved the Beach cleanup, thought it was very worthwhile and were impressed at how much the students had taken charge, from designing and promoting, to permission slips, organising a bus and a ute, and completing a Risk Management form for the Prin

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)?

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Other , Project for Those in Need

“Fanatastic Unit, students thoroughly enjoyed it. We completed a clean up at a local beach, sorting recycling from rubbish, and managed to create a ";Random Act of Kindness Day"; where our class completed a random act of Kindness for every other student in the school (approximately 150!)”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? The goal of the project was to brighten up the fence and make a regularly used pathway a more appealing entry to the school. The original was done in 2003 so was really in need of a refurb. The children worked in the roles to get the ground-work done bef

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)?

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Greenspace Project

“Our SVA task as part of our school Enviro project was initially, to plant a tree and create a garden. As we had a zero budget this was going to be tricky, plus where we were going to plant the tree wasn’t our spot. We were supposed to be planting and creating in front of the fence. However, we didn’t think it was a good idea to cover the fence but perhaps we could brighten it up instead. We had to persuade our school Principal that it was a great idea rather than the plan he had to paint over the original design in black paint! We started our part of the enviro project for St. Marys. It was a challenging task because of numerous reasons: the weather, the zero budget, the timing and figuring out how to collaborate well. We also needed to work out how we were going to do this project as we needed a lot of paint. Fortunately our school had left over paint from other previous projects but we didn’t have all the right colours or tools. With the help of our class parents and Mr Parsons, the property manager, with his budget we managed to get all of our supplies that were needed. Fulton Hogan helped us a lot by generously supplying the green background paint. First we assigned job titles: HQ, safety officer, community liaison, wellbeing officer, photographer, planner, equipment officer, logistics officer &; story-teller. Our jobs were assigned by HQ and we got our badges. Before we started painting we needed to prep. HQ cleaned the fence a couple of days before painting. On Thursday the 19th of November we started painting the fence. Our jobs didn’t actually matter when painting the fence because everyone's main job was painting! Our responsibility was to keep everything on track and to not be silly while we were doing work, because we didn’t want to ruin the design on the fence. We had a few accidents while painting, like blobs of paint, painting ourselves and painting outside the lines. It was a fun experience painting the fence. We really enjoyed it! We are really proud of the job we have done giving the fence a face-lift. We worked really hard on it and it has turned out better than we thought it would.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? Worked with wider school whanau, Resident and Ratepayers Association and local power supplier to restore local wetland near Whakamaru Dam. Students increased their knowledge of wetland fauna and wildlife. They also undertook trapping of rodents. This proj

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? Yes

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)? 5-10

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Greenspace Project

“Students in partnership with the local power supplier are restoring a wetland near Whakamaru Dam. The wetland is next to the Waikato River which runs past Whakamaru Village and Mangakino (the townships where our students live). Students and their whanau use the awa for recreation and fishing. This kit provided an incentive for the students to learn about their local Environment.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? To spend time with elderly in our community. Making connections. Lifting wellbeing after what was a very vulnerable time for our elderly whanau.

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)? 5-10

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Other

“This kit was amazing. We came back from Lockdown and with that in mind my class really wanted to give back to the community by going to spend time with our elderly, who were most vulnerable during Lockdown. Loved the kit, my kids got so much out of their time with the elderly - singing, playing puzzles, talking and laughing. A great experience. I look forward to doing this kit again next year if it is available :)”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? They built relationships with students in the junior school and were able to donate their time and expertise. Some students working for enviro gave their service to the school and spent time painting a new sign for the gardens and bee hives.

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)? 0-5

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Other

“I found this kit had some really good features and gave students an opportunity to share their ideas and express leadership. We found it challenging with COVID as some of the kids ideas were to go to old folk homes and cards for starship but given the current situation, we weren't able to do this. In the end, they had fun with their buddy class and the activities they planned for the junior s were board games, buddy reading, chrome support, book creator, science experiments, enviro work and crafts.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? The projects that my students were apart of targeted our local community that are in need of basic everyday necessities and our school community. The local Salvation Army we greatly appreciative of the food that was collected and donated by one of our gro

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)?

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Other , Project for Those in Need

“This kit was a fantastic way to get us on track and inspired for a fantastic inquiry. The outline was helpful when it came to team planning as it supported us to structure our learning. The outcomes of our projects were rich and there was a lot of valuable learning. This is a must do for next year!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? Focus for term 1 - covid

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)? 0-5

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Other

“Amazing kit”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

What was the community impact of your volunteering project? Students repotted 116 plants and harvested kowhai seeds at a local native plant nursery. They also learned a lot about the importance of nurturing native plants in New Zealand. The outcome was two fold as while they were giving, they also gained knowledge

Did your class take part in volunteering before the SVA Kit? No

Has the SVA kit inspired future volunteering within your class? Yes

How many hours did your class spend on their project (including the Find, Build, Act and Share stages)?

How successful was this kit in developing your students' project management skills (problem solving, collaboration etc)?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

What type of project did your class undertake? Greenspace Project

“The student volunteer army kit is always engaging for learners and is an amazing opportunity to 'give back' to our community. To connect with our learning focus, students volunteered at a local pant nursery where they worked to harvest kowhai seeds and to repot some flax. Having the Student Army structure really engaged the students making it their impact, not just teacher driven. Having the wrist bands and badges really pulls the students into the experience.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

SVA Schools: Volunteer Kit 20 Reviews