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SVA Service Award

Information for Schools

RECOGNISING THE EFFORTS OF STUDENT VOLUNTEERS

The SVA Service Award is a free nationwide framework that recognises volunteering efforts of Year 9-13 students. Wondering if the SVA Service Award suits your school? Do you...

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Run an existing programme?

If your school currently conducts a structured volunteering programmes then you could award Member Pins to every student.

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Have a quiet contributor?

You could recognise a student whose contribution to school life hasn't been acknowledged with a SVA Service Pin.

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Have incredible prefects?

If your prefects give huge hours to the job they could be acknowledged at a national level as well as by the school.
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Have student caregivers?

If your students provide unpaid care for whanau you can celebrate the contribution they make with SVA Service pins and a record of their efforts.

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Have student volunteers?

If you have socially minded students who give their time to the wider community you can acknowledge their efforts in school with an SVA Service Award.
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Students who need a CV?

If your students are under pressure to articulate their contribution to the community for a job or tertiary application you can have them use the SVA Summary of Service Record

The SVA Service Award is available, free of charge, to any student at a participating NZ Secondary School. Students can take part in groups or as individuals and are awarded a pin for initial volunteering hours before logging additional efforts online.

School, community and in-home volunteering hours all qualify and are combined into a single record of service.

Do your students need a way to showcase their volunteering? Use the Summary of Service

The Summary of Service is one of the most valuable parts of the SVA Service Award. It’s like a CV of volunteering that tracks a student's progress and displays their achievements across all volunteering activities, at a single glance.

If your students are looking for a way to leverage the best opportunities through volunteering, let them know about the Summary of Service, which is only available to high school students who are registered with the SVA Service Award.

Students may use the Summary of Service to showcase their volunteering when applying for jobs, uni, polytech, apprenticeships or scholarship applications!

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The SVA Service Award pins can be awarded by any nominated person at your school. Click below to see the list of schools that are registered with the SVA Service Award.

Registered Schools

Member Pin

5 hours

Bronze Award Pin

32 hours

Silver Award Pin

250 hours

Gold Award Pin

500 hours

Top Volunteer Award

Special Recognition Badge
Each school awards one student (based on the most volunteering hours logged in their school) with this special badge. The student that has the most hours logged (overall) across all schools in Aotearoa, will also receive special recognition as the SVA Top Volunteer for that year.

How can our school register?

First - We'll Talk.

We'll explain the programme in full, discuss activities at your school that might qualify students for service award hours and answer any questions you might have.

To register a school must nominate a key staff contact who is happy to receive notifications and award pins as students achieve a new volunteering milestone.

We send you a SVA Service Award Pack

If you choose to register as an SVA School we’ll send you a starter pack of SVA pins containing sufficient Member and Bronze Award pins to see you through the school year. You can request more pins at any time. there will never be a cost for this.

The school’s role is to award pins and celebrate student success and contribution to community. There is little or no staff admin required as students register themselves online and then return to log volunteering hours over their school career.

We notify you of student achievements

As students log more and more hours over their school career, they’ll qualify for successive pins (Silver and Gold Awards).

These awards demonstrate a significant contribution to the well-being of both school and the wider community. We’ll notify you each time a student achieves such a milestone and make sure the appropriate award pin is delivered to you at school.

At the end of each year the student at your school who has logged the highest number of volunteering hours will receive a special pin. This will be sent to you in time for your end of year celebrations.

Participating Schools

Member Pins

Registered Students

Volunteering Hours

what schools are saying

This is perfect for our school. We have so many students who act as unpaid caregivers for grandparents and siblings at home. Ironically, this is often a barrier to producing a full CV of service related activities when it comes to completing applications for study or employment. The Service Record component of the Awards means our kids can be recognised for the work they actually do - exciting times

Vicki Cotton, Head of Careers - Sacred Heart Girls' High School

We are currently undergoing an awards review in our school to explore how we can make this more accessible and visible across all year levels so this will be fabulous.

Chris Jordan, Assistant Principal, Greenbay High School

The pins are a real currency - the girls continue to aim for the next level as they really want to add the beautiful pin to their school blazer

Cat Roberts, Deputy Principal - Sacred Heart College (Hamilton)

The beauty of our students registering with the SVA Service Award means they can keep a full log over the years of their service and print this out, which is of huge value to them

Anglea Garret, Service Coordinator - Carmel College

Our Partners & Sponsors

“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in
democracy. When you volunteer, you vote
every day about the kind of community
you want to live in”.

― Dr Syed Muhammad Zeeshan Hussain Almashhadi

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