A. Project environment

The kindergarten is placed in the northern part of Warsaw, the Bielany district. Bielany is a residential district, known for being peaceful and quiet. There are plenty of retirees and young families living in Bielany. One can find all necessary public institutions (e.g. hospital, medical centers, libraries) as well as popular entertainment facilities such as shopping complex or cinema in Bielany. Buses, trams and the underground make Bielany very reachable and well connected in the city.

The kindergarten has a very good location, as the building is situated next to the Warsaw metro station called "S³odowiec". The kindergarten is a low one-storey building. All playrooms for children, big hall, bathrooms, specialists' offices, director's office and the kitchen are all located in the ground floor. The cloakrooms, the oculist's office and then orthoptist's office are located on the -1 level. The kindergarten has a big, beautiful garden with a lot of equipment and accessories.


Smoking is banned on the premises of the kindergarten and we would expect the volunteers to follow the rule.

The kindergarten is open from Monday to Friday, from 7:00 am until 5:30 pm.

The plan of the day is the following:
07:00 - 08:00 am - children come to the kindergarten.
08:30 - 09:00 am - breakfast
09:00 - 12:00 - studying time
12:00 - 12:30 pm - dinner
01:00 - 03:30 pm - non-compulsory activities and teatime
01:00 - 02:15 pm - rest for the youngest children
03:30 - 05:30 pm - play time, children go home.


B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

The main role of the volunteer that we would like to invite to our daily-care place would be based on direct work with a blind child and assisting the child during its stay in the kindergarten. Our kindergarten is addressed to visually impaired children. However, due to the current social needs, sometimes we do admit blind children or children with visual deficits so severe that they practically require full-time assistance in performing most of their daily activities. Work with a blind child includes getting the child to know the world around him/her, moving within the kindergarten spaces, teaching the child to use the equipment available on the premises, assistance during the teacher-managed classes, additional activities, as well as helping the child with typical self-care activities, such as personal hygiene, help at eating (assisted eating), dressing and undressing. The work during the classes is connected with preparing under the direct teacher's supervision special aid materials that may be necessary for tasks to be performed. Such aid materials need to be adjusted to the specific child's visual abilities. The volunteer would strictly cooperate with the teachers working in particular groups as far as the work with a given child is concerned and would also exchange his/her observations and reflections, while at the same time complying with the teacher's requirements in connection with group activities.

The volunteers would have an opportunity to take part in all cultural and social events organised in the kindergarten, such as theatre performances, concerts, balls and other holiday-related events (Family's Day, Grandmother's Day, Grandfather's Day), as well as in trips outside the kindergarten.

Considering the described activities in which the volunteers would be executing or participating in we believe that they would have the possibility to develop their pedagogical skills in the area of working with children with special needs, as well as participating in various workshops and trainings organised by and/or in the kindergarten. We are confident that volunteers can gain a lot of knowledge and practical skills they will be able to use in the future.

Furthermore, we wil provide mentorship and supervision for the volunteers. They will be able to count on the support of our staff. We are also aware of the fact that working with visually impaired or blind children is very demanding and that volunteers would need specific guidelines and training to prepare them and help them with their work. The working and learning process of the volunteers would be monitored on a regular basis. Joint evaluation meetings of an individual volunteer and the supervisor would be introduced to assure it.

Verbal communication between the volunteers and the children is very important, especially that our children due to their visual impairment cannot rely on non-verbal communication so much. It is for this reason as well that we would put special attention on the knowledge of Polish language of the volunteers. Polish language course would be provided with the mentioned goal as well as the aim to make the interaction and communication between the volunteers and the kindergarten staff easier. We would also like to introduce voluneers to the Polish culture, history and tradition and we believe that we can all achieve this by volunteers' involvement in our kindergarten.


C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process

Since the volunteers would be working with a little child that is blind or whose eyesight is impaired to the point in which verbal communication becomes the basic form of contact available to them, it would be good for the volunteer to have basic knowledge of Polish. It is not, however, a demand from our side. At the same time, it is important that volunteers would be eager to learn Polish, at least the basics that are necessary for communication.

The most important characteristics that we would be looking for are the following:
- that the volunteers like children and working with children
- can easily establish contact with small children (3-4 years old)
- openness and open-mindedness.

Pedagogical experience and/or explicit pedagogical predisposition/skills would also be welcome but are definitely not a requirement.

The Polish Robert Schuman Foundation as the coordinating organization would organize the recruitment process. We are opened to cooperation with different sending organizations, volunteers from different countries and of different backgrounds. Nationality, religious or political beliefs, social origin, sexual orientation, gender or economical circumstances will not be a defining factor in our selection of volunteers. Selection would be carried out on the basis of CVs and motivation letters sent by the candidates or their sending organizations. Sometimes short interviews would be conducted with the candidates over the phone or instant communicator. The final decision would be made after thourough consultation with the staff of the Special Kindergarten No 245 for Visually Impaired Children.

We would like to host 2 volunteers as we believe that we can provide proper conditions and environment for their work and activities.


D. Risk prevention, protection and safety

With the support of the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation we will make sure that the volunteers have full support throughout the whole project and the project is implemented fully subscribing to the EVS ideology defined in "Youth in Action" user giude and EVS Charter.

In the kindergarten the volunteers can expect:
- nice and warm atmosphere
- possibility to learn the Polish language
- supervisor's assistance
- assistance at task performance
- learning about and getting to know forms and methods of educational, caring and didactic work with visually impaired and blind children
- possibility to take part in trainings and workshops organised by and/or in the kindergarten
- 2 meals per day (breakfast and lunch) during the stay in the kindergarten.

The volunteers would be able to count on the support of the specialists and the kindergarten staff. Each volunteer would have their supervisor and mentor to which they would be able to turn to for advice and/or help. The volunteers would also be acquainted with the guidelines and rules regarding safety and hygiene as well as methods and rules of working with visually impaired or blind children.

We feel that due to the specifics of the activities proposed, we could not host volunteers under the age of 18.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=58000535457