Summer Play Scheme Assistant Volunteers - Female only (Ealing)

Across the UK, almost one million children are affected by domestic abuse every year. At Hestia, we know how important it is for children to feel safe, supported, and free to simply enjoy being children again. That’s why, every summer, our refuges create spaces filled with warmth, play, and joy – and we’re looking for wonderful volunteers to help us make that happen!

Each year during the school summer holidays, we run a six‑week Summer Play Scheme, offering fun activities and special outings for mothers and their children living in our refuges.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, the Summer Play Scheme gives families a chance to reconnect, laugh, and build happy memories together during what can be an incredibly difficult time.

If you’re passionate about supporting women and children who have fled domestic abuse – and you love getting creative, playful, and involved – we’d love to hear from you! Our volunteers work alongside our Children and Family Workers to bring daily activities and outings to life, helping to make this summer feel brighter, safer, and full of joy for the families we support.

What you will be doing

• To help with the day to day running of the Children & Family Service throughout the summer holidays
• To assist organising and facilitating activities and outings with the Children and Family Worker
• To use a range of skills and tools to make sessions interesting and fun for a range of ages
• To create timetables, posters, maps and instructions for residents
• To offer general admin help: typing, taking meeting minutes, filing and scanning documents
• To develop positive relationships with the children and women
• Support with administrative tasks including attendance and feedback
• To gather ideas, suggestions from families, plan, collaborate and create a timetable of activitiess and sessions. To involve women and children in the planning and designing of the timetable
• To support in providing or purchasing resources for activities

The skills you need

• Experience working with children/childcare/play-work experience - gained formally or informally
• Willingness to learn about domestic abuse and its impact on children and women
• Able to maintain strict confidentiality
• Ability to provide a supportive, and inclusive atmosphere that encourages learning and participation
• Good interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work with people from different backgrounds.

What's in it for you

• Supporting You - You will have a dedicated volunteer supervisor to support you in your role; Quarterly volunteer forums with the central Volunteering team and volunteers across Hestia; References for job applications
• Developing You - You will gain knowledge and insight into issues that impact Domestic Abuse, Modern Slavery and Mental Health; You will have access to our extensive Learning and Development Programme; 40% of our departed volunteers secured a paid role at Hestia last year!
• Valuing You - We hold annual Volunteer Awards and Celebration events; We reimburse travel expenses and up to £5 for lunch for your volunteering; We hold social events and outings for our volunteers to get together and have some fun