Volunteering helps both you and the organisation you volunteer at. It will enable you to meet new people and build new strengths. It can help you gain a better understanding of a career you may be thinking of going in to and will help you develop key employability and transferable skills, such as communication, teamworking; understanding how an organisation works and developing confidence working with adults in a work environment. Whichever volunteering you do, you will learn a lot about yourself and working Volunteering is useful both for your CV and for any University Application. It also show that you are motivated enough to help others without a financial incentive, which is a great sign for any future employer.

Mentoring is a particularly popular enrichment activity at Bishop Thomas Grant School. After receiving some ongoing training, the mentors are either paired with targeted students from the lower school or with the English, Mathematics, Science or Languages departments. They are then able to provide academic (literacy) and/or pastoral support in regular, one-to-one sessions or within the classroom. Students who are in their second year of mentoring have the opportunity to work with one of our feeder primary schools. On successful completion of both the course and their mentoring the pastoral mentors are given a certificate of introduction to counselling skills.

This enrichment opportunity involves surveying and maintaining all allotments on the school site, as well as planning out which flowers and produce students will grow themselves, on the school site. The most recent project involved tending to the garden space in the Lower-School-Playground - Weeds were removed, the soil was tilled and all plants were trimmed to enhance the garden's presentation. The garden enrichment is a rigorous but rewarding opportunity for students to develop skills in gardening, manual work, careful planning and time management for plant/harvest cycles.