Spotlight on – Angela – Cavendish School

Angela became a Dot Dot Dot guardian in summer 2018, and has since totted up a total of 438 hours volunteering at Cavendish School in south east London. It’s an amazing achievement and a significant contribution to the 160,000 hours (the equivalent of 100 working years) that Dot Dot Dot guardians have collectively given to good causes. We asked Angela about her highlights and proudest moments of her volunteering experience so far.

What’s been your volunteering highlight?

Working with these amazing kids. They are young people who face so many challenges in their life but they have such big characters. Working with them is a really rewarding experience, creating a bond and sharing experiences whilst trying to improve their prospects for the future.

Are there any organisations you’d like to give a shout out to?

Dallaglio RugbyWorks are an amazing organisation who I recently set up a partnership with. They come into Cavendish school once a week and use rugby as an intervention to provide an intensive, long-term skill development programme. It provides the students with essential workplace experience, workshops and discipline, and guides the young people onto a suitable career path.

What’s been your proudest volunteering moment?

Hosting an app design workshop and seeing how the students responded to something they found interesting and relevant to their lives. I’ve never seen them interact in that way to a lesson or work as a team the way they did. They are important skills for the future, so I think it was a very valuable lesson for them.

Has anyone in particular made your volunteering experience special?

My supervisor, Debbie has been amazing. She is very open to new ideas and has a brilliant mind – she helps me think of things that I had not previously considered.

Has being a Dot Dot Dot guardian changed the way you volunteer?

Without being a Dot Dot Dot guardian, I wouldn’t be able to afford to live in London and I’m not sure I would be able to participate in the Year Here postgraduate course I’m on.

Has volunteering impacted how you feel about your local area?

Yes, it helps me better understand the reality, struggles and challenges that many of my neighbours may have experienced with poor encounters of national education, social welfare and health services that aren’t able to support them in the way they might need.

Read about 100 years of volunteering and more of our guardians’ volunteering stories here.