Volunteers from a church will usually prove to be a valuable asset to a school. But the school may need to do some preparation with the volunteers beforehand. It will be worth the effort because of the skills, interests and expertise which church volunteers can bring.
A visitor should never be left in sole charge of pupils, or alone with a pupil in a private space. If you have volunteers in school, the teacher remains responsible for the pupils and their behaviour. You may be able to offer advice to volunteers about how to manage pupils' behaviour in a better way if they struggle with that at first.
Help visitors to feel welcome and comfortable visiting the school and ensure they know where toilets are and where they can get a drink.
Help visitors to understand the importance of child protection issues and facilitate the CRB checks for church visitors if necessary. Some may already have their clearance in place due to the responsibilities they have in the church, but always check.
If you have a code of conduct or dress code in school, ensure the visitors and volunteers know about it and behave appropriately.
Be clear about the time frame in which they are working so that they don't run over their time if contributing to a lesson or collective worship.
Church visitors may need guidance about what is appropriate for different age groups. Advise them about the groups and the context they are in at your school. Give constructive feedback if they are inputting to a lesson or collective worship. If it is a lesson, help them understand how lesson planning works and be clear about your expectations of their input.
Help them to understand the appropriateness of sharing their faith, not imposing their faith, and to remember that collective worship is a compulsory activity for pupils unless their parents have taken the step to withdraw them. It is important to invite pupils to participate in worship, not to do things that force them to participate. Examples include inviting pupils to join in a prayer or to say 'Amen' by saying something like, 'I am going to say a prayer. Please join in, if you want to, by saying Amen at the end'.
Use of 'non inclusive' language is important in school. In church, it is totally appropriate to say 'we believe ' because it is reasonable to assume that the people in the church are Christians or are there because they want to be. In a school setting, it is important to use phrases like 'As a Christian, I believe that... '. Or 'Christians believe ... ', or 'Paul was a Jew, so he believed that .... '