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    Youth Volunteering

    Here at the Scottish SPCA, we are committed to supporting people of all ages get involved with our work, so it’s great to be able to offer our Youth Volunteering Programme for 14-16 year olds.

    Our Youth Volunteering Programme is open to applications per the timetable below. While we cannot guarantee that all of our rescue centres will be in a position to offer placements, we are continually reassessing capacity and all available opportunities will be advertised online in June, December and March.

    We welcome young people to volunteer with us as part of their school curriculum, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Saltire Awards or other award scheme, or if they are aspiring to work in animal welfare in the future and are looking to gain valuable experience for their CV.

    Our placements are available to young people aged 14-16 and we offer a 6-8-week long placement, attending one day (or half day) per week. During the placement, we offer hands-on animal husbandry experience within a set range of tasks assessed as safe and appropriate, and we will expect the young person to participate daily in cleaning tasks such as kennel cleaning, washing food bowls, assisting with laundry etc.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: While we appreciate that the criteria for the volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards is connected to a specific number of months (Bronze 3 months, Silver 6 months and Gold 12 months) in order that you can demonstrate commitment over a set time period, the Scottish SPCA are unable to offer the suggested average time commitment of 1-2 hour per week for operational reasons.

    You may use your volunteering with us (half or full days) towards your DofE volunteering requirement, and will gain during a placement up to 48 hours of volunteering experience. Please discuss with your DofE leader how you may find additional volunteering opportunity to supplement this 8-week period to satisfy the needs of the scheme.

    How to apply

    We will invite applications as follows:

    • Apply in December for placements in January, February, March
    • Apply in March for placements in April, May, June
    • Apply in June for placements in July, August, September
    • Apply in September for placements in October, November, December

    *Please note that we cannot accommodate applications that fall without these period.

    When should I apply?

    Youth volunteering placements are very popular and it will not always be possible to accommodate applicants. The availability of placements is at the discretion of our Centre managers and other relevant business area managers.