College Pilots New Volunteer Programme - vtalent

City College Plymouth has selected 10 young people, aged 16-25 but is still recruiting for Plymouth's first full-time volunteer programme - vtalent.

As part of the programme, volunteers will be taking a part-time National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) for one day each week. For the further four days, volunteers will act as a buddy and mentor to students, as well as designing larger scale projects to benefit students and the strategic aims of the College.

The course will run until August 2010 and is designed for people who are interested in working with children or young people and would like to work in the public sector. The NVQ's will begin in September and the options available are childcare, youth-work or customer services. The volunteering activities will be structured to address the same issues as the NVQ course.

Volunteers are able to claim expenses to enable them to act as volunteers for this length of time - the total claimed cannot exceed £100 per week.

Gareth Walton, vtalent coordinator at City College Plymouth commented: "This is a fantastic opportunity for young people looking to further their education and gain valuable experience within a work environment.

"We have some really exciting and worthwhile projects planned for the year - the programme is very structured and will engage and motivate the volunteers to the best of their ability."