This week we are giving recognition to all the amazing people who are volunteering to help and support people in their communities by sharing the great work of just some of the amazing volunteers we have at PJA.

Following on from yesterday’s article Jane Overton, Transport Planner in our Birmingham office, shares her volunteering experience with The Access Project, a charity that supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds:

“The Duke of Edinburgh Award has been in the news a lot over the last few weeks, and although I didn’t progress to the Gold Award and meet the Duke himself, it was my experience completing the Bronze Award that has fuelled my passion for volunteering in the local community ever since.

I’ve been volunteering with The Access Project since 2015. The Access Project, or TAP for short, is a fantastic charity that works to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access top universities through a combination of tuition and in-school mentoring. It is the tuition element of their work that I have been involved with for the past six years – and I can honestly say it’s one of the most rewarding, heart-warming and enjoyable volunteering opportunities I’ve ever been involved in.

As a volunteer tutor, the charity matches you with a student studying for their GCSEs or A-Levels for weekly hour long tutorials. For me, this has been in GCSE Maths or GCSE/A Level Geography. Since April last year all tutorials have been carried out online via a secure, dedicated tutoring platform, but before then the majority of tutors met their students in their workplace – this allowed students to get experience of travelling by themselves, planning journeys, and using public transport.

There are huge inequalities in experiences of education across the UK between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. Whilst I was incredibly fortunate throughout my education to not experience these inequalities, involvement in TAP has allowed me to do something practical, immediate and personal to address this issue.

For students, involvement in TAP can be life changing – not only does participation improve their grades, but also gives each student increased confidence, new life skills, one-to-one support in areas they find challenging and exposure to those who have been through the higher education system, all of which means they are more likely to attend a top university.

I am by no means an exceptional mathematician and before I started tutoring I was worried I wouldn’t be able to remember enough maths (or geography!) to support someone through some of the most important years of their young lives. However, TAP gives all tutors brilliant training and a dedicated set of subject specific resources to help you deliver tutorials. After a few sessions, I soon realised that I didn’t need to be a subject expert, but rather needed to use my own experience, passion and knowledge to coach the students to understand the more complex concepts, stretch their abilities and increase their confidence. Since starting at PJA in 2019, the company have always been very supportive of my involvement in volunteering activities, including TAP.

Tutoring in maths and geography has given me the chance to share with someone else the passion I have for subjects that are relevant to my job, and to demonstrate real life applications of school subjects. In terms of professional development, tutoring with TAP has allowed me to demonstrate key competencies required for chartership, and also to improve my communication and planning skills.

A stand out moment for me was hearing the GCSE and A Level results of a student I tutored in geography for nearly three years – not only had she achieved top grades and got into her first choice university, but every week I could see her confidence in the subject, and her independence grow. I was incredibly proud of all she had achieved, but also that our tutorials had a positive, lasting impact on her education.”

Find out more about The Access Project here

For more information on this, or our transport planning services, please contact: [email protected]

Jane Overton BA (Hons)

Jane has over 5 years’ experience working for a range of public and private sector clients primarily in development planning, but also in scheme appraisal, travel planning and transport modelling.

Her key skills include junction modelling, accessibility analysis and travel demand forecasting to support the preparation of Transport Assessments and other technical documents for a range of developments including residential, education and employment land uses.

Read our other Volunteer Recognition Day articles here

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