Student Volunteering

Volunteering is a great way for students to develop new skills and enhance their study through real world experience. It is also brings capacity, passion and skills to community projects. USCATs is the University of Salford’s Community Action Teams and delivers a number of projects in and around Salford for students to get involved in. USCATS are always looking for new projects, so if you think you would like to discuss an idea, contact Julia Spencer

Environment Team

Spreading a little tender loving care for the environment

The Environment Team brings together students studying in our School of Environment & Life Sciences and those who share a real passion for the environment and want to do some volunteering while they are at university.  The enthusiasm and creativity of the Team is infectious and we would like to share this through our community events. The Team has been bug hunting with local school children, undertaken conservation work, developed biodiversity activities, led nature walks, supported community clean-ups and organised community events in the green spaces in and around the university.  The Team has worked alongside Salford City Council’s Ranger Service to deliver many of these activities and is working now with the Museum and Arts Gallery and local community organisations to develop more community events.

Community Interpreters Project

Eureka!

Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t speak the local language and no-one you met could understand you, or maybe you have struggled on with a very limited vocabulary? Imagine not being able to understand what your children’s teacher or your doctor is saying to you, or finding yourself without work and homeless in a place where no-one understands you. You may believe that interpreting services will be available in situations like this, but very often a level of need has to be identified before funding for these services can be accessed.  That won’t happen if no-one understands what your needs are. The Community Interpreter Volunteers provide a fundamental step in opening up conversations which help individuals get the support they need.  The project is currently working with local homeless projects.

High School Mentoring Project

Improving GCSE grades for Salford pupils

This is a literacy and numeracy project delivered in local secondary schools. The schools identify pupils who would benefit from some extra tailored support to improve their grades at GCSE.  Students are invited to opt to deliver either literacy or numeracy support for the pupils and undergo an assessment prior to being placed in a school. This is a very popular volunteering opportunity for students who intend to go into teaching. For the school pupils, higher grades at GCSE can make a huge difference in terms of their future educational and career opportunities.

Events Team  

The USCATs Events Team plays a vital role in the delivery of our outdoor activities, making sure that events are properly planned and safely delivered. This provides essential assistance to our Environment Team and their public events. The Events Team also support the organisations identified by the University through its Charitable Support Policy.

Interlink

A warm welcome to Salford for our international students

The University of Salford is a popular destination for many international students. Often this will be the first time they have visited the UK,  and Salford and the wider region may be unfamiliar to them. Interlink Volunteers are UK based students who want to make sure that our international students feel welcomed and start to find out more about the region they will be living in for the next three or four  years. It is really important from the University’s perspective that all our students enjoy and make the most of their time as a University of Salford student  and that they when they leave they feel that they have been part of life in Salford.

Writing Lives

Revealing the untold stories, the hidden gems…

Arts Development Officer, Harriet Morgan-Shami, runs this community project which captures life experiences through written and spoken words.  Students, professional creative writers and members of the community work together to create and share their own, personal narratives.  The project will be taking to the road with a story bus to visit local schools and community organisations.