Volunteering with Skylarks
At Skylarks we rely on our many volunteers to operate and help us provide the wide range of services we are able to offer our families. Our volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds and use their skills and interests in many ways to further our aims and objectives. Our Trustees, also volunteers, work behind the scenes to ensure the future smooth running of the charity. In 2021, volunteers contributed 1312 hours pro-bono work to us, that's worth nearly £158,000. We couldn't do it without you!
If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer for us, either at our sessions or helping behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you! There are limitless ways you can get involved and every single contribution helps us to continue our work. Whatever your background, and whatever you wish to do, you’ll find that volunteering for Skylarks is rewarding and challenging.
Our “hands-on” volunteers attend our sessions on Tuesday afternoons and/or Friday mornings. These are the ways you could help with our activities:
- Playing with children or working one-to-one with a child
- Playing music or singing
- Makaton signing
- Setting up and putting away toys
- Making refreshments and welcoming visitors
- Running talks or offering workshops on your area of expertise
- Providing massage, cranial osteopathy and other therapies you are skilled in
- Helping in drama, cookery, karate or any other activities you are skilled in
- Helping on trips out such as ice skating, Kew Gardens or Richmond Park nature trails.
We also welcome volunteers who wish to provide in-kind support using their skill sets. In the past we have had volunteers use their skills to provide graphic design services, photography or video content, PR support and more.
We also welcome volunteers to help us collect donations at glamorous evening events in central London. If you like dressing up in your finest clothes and socialising with potential benefactors at fundraising events, please email
fundraising@skylarks.charity
Please use the contact form above to volunteer your support in-kind.
We also welcome young people, with or without additional needs, to volunteer with us, particularly as part of their Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) award scheme. This can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience for young people. Young people aged 14 and above often volunteer with us every Tuesday afternoon after school, for a term at a time. The role involves playing with children, attending music therapy, drama or karate sessions and encouraging children to join in, and then tidying up at the end, finishing at about 6pm. We can only accept a limited number of DofE volunteers at a time, so it is best to plan ahead and contact us as early as possible. Young people need to visit with a parent before they start, so please email info@skylarks.charity to express an interest.
Our Volunteer Leader, Sarah Whyte, will be your main point of contact when volunteering at our sessions. If you find you cannot attend on the day or are running late, please call or text her on 07375 350 880.
Checks and Training
Before regularly supporting at our sessions, volunteers are asked to complete our registration form, have an informal interview, provide two references and read all our relevant policies, such as safeguarding and child protection. Volunteers are required to adhere to our volunteer policy at all times. Volunteers must be willing to complete or provide an up-to-date DBS (formerly CRB) check.
We run regular training courses for our volunteers such as First Aid and Child Safeguarding.
Please find below our volunteer policy and volunteer job description.
Download as an Adobe Acrobat pdf.
Comments from volunteers: