Oxfordshire County Council was one of 33 local authorities to undertake a 2 year pilot full time volunteering programme called VTalent Year. It's been a great success for the young people who took part!
vtalent year has been running since March 2009. It was a major new national programme for young people aged 16 to 25 who wanted to work with children and young people, but needed to get a foot on the ladder, and without this programme they wouldn't have had the opportunity. During the vtalent year programme, young volunteers experienced two residentials, an induction into working at Oxfordshire County Council including safeguarding, and received a £1,500 personal development grant to to support them into further education, training, employment or extended volunteering opportunities. The young volunteers were given training in children's rights, matched with the right work placement for them, and attended Study Days for a qualification in community volunteering and other relevant qualifications.
Through vtalent year, young people were offered 44 week placements to Children and Young People’s Services.
Over 2 years we have worked with 39 young people (YP).
In Year 1 we worked with 20 YP, 5 of whom completed the full year and 7 who completed 6 months or more.
In Year 2 we worked with 19 YP, 9 of whom completed the full year on 4th Feb 2011 and 5 who completed 6 months or more.
Over 2 years, vtalent year volunteers have worked in:
Youth Centres
Children's Centres
Participation and Play Team
Connexions
Youth Offending Service
Meadowbrook College
Assessment and Family Support Team
Children and Families Care Services
Virtual School
Springfield School
Autism Resource Base
Youth Information Service
Kingfisher School
Family and Placement Support Team.
Our thanks go to all the teams and managers who have supported VTalentYear volunteers over the past 2 years, without whom this programme would not have succeeded.
Graduation ceremony in County Hall, Oxford
On 1st February 2011 our final 11 VTalentYear volunteers graduated at a joint graduation with the Oxfordshire Apprentices at County Hall.
Find out more
Watch 'The vtalent year film' to see young people's stories of their experiences on the vtalent year programme.
Dark screen with revolving vtalent logo, on a globe of planet earth. Dance music.
Close up of a woman sitting in an office at a desk, she introduces herself to camera, this is cut with footage of a Study Day with young volunteers from the vtalent programme seated in a classroom
Hi my name’s Shelley Maxfield, I’m the vtalent year coordinator for Oxfordshire County Council. Vtalent year is a national programme for 16-25 year olds to volunteer full time for 44 weeks.
Volunteers attend study days to complete their volunteering qualifications.
Red leather interview couch set against a white wall. Close up of a young female volunteer introducing herself to camera. This is cut with footage of a vtalent year residential trip with laser-tagging and tree climbing. We see a young volunteer in a harness, about to climb a tree. “The vtalent programme has been an inspiring year for me, and it’s also helped because I’m from Zimbabwe, none of my qualifications were recognised, so to be able to volunteer as well as getting a qualification has been absolutely amazing for me.
Interview couch. Close up of two young female volunteers on a sofa introducing themselves to camera, the one on the left speaks: “ I think the best thing about vtalent is the fact that it’s got me out on my placement, and, yeah it’s just given me something to do.”
Interview couch: Medium shot of a young female volunteer introducing herself to camera, cut with footage of her playing pool with another volunteer: “My name’s Christine I’m 18 yrs old, and I’m a member of the vtalent project that is absolutely amazing. I’m a young person just leaving care, and I’m a member of the Young People’s interviewing panel, and a member of the Children In Care Council as well as being a Source Worker. And I would like to say that vtalent is absolutely amazing.
Interview couch: Close up of the two earlier young female volunteers seen, the one on right speaks: “It’s given me more confidence.”
Close up of young male volunteer talking to camera, cut with footage of his animation shoot. This shows models on a set he created, and a short clip of the film he made showing a man turning the pages of a book, and is followed by a fast-motion shot of him drawing on a professional animators’ easel.: “I decided that my long-term goal was to be an animator, that being the career I wanted to pursue, and I found out that Shelly would be quite wiling to let me do some animation work here. This has helped me improve my prospects of getting into a college where I can genuinely learn how to make these sorts of films and that makes me pretty damn happy.”
Interview couch: Medium shot of a young female volunteer talking, cut with a fast-motion montage of footage taken from the front seat of a moving minibus. Roads speed by: “My favourite day that I can recall would be the day that we all went as a group to go laser-tagging.”
Close up of an earlier young male volunteer on the interview couch talking to camera, cut with footage of laser-tagging: “Bascially we went on all militant style, we got dressed up in army clothing, we got a load of pretend guns, AKA 47s, snipers, Uzis etc, run round like a bunch of maniacs all day, excellent food, shot each other, and just really bonded a lot more through it and yeah it was a really good bonding experience for the vtalent.
Close up of the previous young female volunteer on the interview couch, she continues: We built up as a team and worked very well as a team and I think that we’ve worked well as a team since.“
Medium shot of a young male and a young female volunteer, facing the camera, the young man speaks. Cut with footage of tree climbing: “the best thing about vtalent was meeting new people, building our confidence, and just getting to know youth work and that…”
Close up of a young male volunteer standing in front of a sign saying: ‘Oxfordshire County Council Young People’s Centre’ talking to camera: “vtalent gave me something to work towards, cos before that I was doing nothing….”
Return to close up of previous 2 volunteers, a young man and a young woman. The young man continues: “Without vtalent I’d be sat at home bored doing nothing”
Return to close up of the young male volunteer standing in front of the sign, he continues: “…nothing to look forward to, no stability no structure. I think it just gave me that…kick! (He laughs)
Close up on interview couch of a young male volunteer talking to camera: “The best part of vtalent was the residential where we…cos meeting new people and driving down there was funny.”
Close up on interview couch of a young male volunteer talking to camera, cut with footage of young volunteers in a classroom on a Study Day, and footage of tree climbing: “I enjoyed the residential, probably the most because I got to meet everyone, I got to do loads of group activities, that I really enjoyed and I think it’s boosted my confidence quite a bit because I was quite shy and I have learnt that I can talk loudly in front of people, and when I talk I don’t shut up so I guess it’s sort of built my confidence quite a lot, so I really enjoyed it.”
Medium shot of Councillor Keith Mitchell, a box appears on screen reading: Councillor Keith Mitchell, Leader of OCC. Keith Mitchell speaks: “Well I think volunteering has never been more important than it is now. We’ve got a rising number of youngsters who are not in education, employment or training. We’re doing our best to find out why, we’re doing our best to signpost them towards training, education or work, but volunteering feels like a fourth leg that people don’t always recognize, and I think it’s quite important actually that we get it recognition, and if people cant get work, can’t get training, volunteering is fantastic way for them to increase their self-esteem, make a contribution to the community, and eventually perhaps even get work.
Close up of a young male volunteer on interview couch talking to camera: “ I hope that’s given you just a touch of a taste of what vtalent’s like and hopefully that you’ll research it and soon be sitting where I’m sitting. Ciao!”
Close up of two young women volunteers on the interview couch. The one on the right says “That’s it…”, the one on the left gives a ‘thumbs up’ sign, they both giggle.
Close up of a young woman volunteer on the interview couch, she speaks to camera: “Um I’d just like to thank Shelley and Candice for all their support & help throughout the year. Thank you!”
Close up of a young male volunteer on the interview couch. He makes ‘V’ peace signs with both hands and says to camera: “V”
The vtalent year logo appears on a dark purple screen. Bright purple blotches appear behind it and expand, the logo shatters into pieces and explodes out of the frame edges. Dissolve into a close up of Shelley Maxfield the vtalent year Coordinator in her office chair, she speaks: “Over the 2 yrs of the programme, we’ve worked with 39 amazing young people, who’ve shown us that they can make a real difference with their volunteering, not only in the lives of the peoples they’ve worked with, but also in their own.
The screen is black. White credits roll: With thanks to: Oxfordshire County Council, vtalent, the National Young Volunteers Service, vtalent year Volunteers, Placement Supervisors, friends, family and everyone who has been involved in this amazing project. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Oxfordshire vtalent year, 2009-2011. Filmed by Suzy Prior, Post production Stuart Temple, Oxfordshire County Council copyright 2011
Dance music fades out, silence. End of film.
Further information
For more information and reports please contact Shelley Maxfield, VTalentYear Coordinator (01865) 256 644, or email shelley.maxfield@oxfordshire.gov.uk. You can check out what's happening nationally in young people's volunteering and what the future holds by visiting v.org.
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