Recognising the efforts of student volunteers
‘Kia tuao, e tu ki te ao’ – ‘Be a volunteer and stand up in the world’
The SVA Service Award is a nationwide framework that recognises volunteering efforts of Year 7-13 students.
Available free to groups or individuals, students are awarded a pin for initial volunteering hours and log additional efforts on the SVA App or online. School, community and in-home volunteering hours all qualify and are combined into a single record of service.
The SVA platform gives teachers access to student records. The Teams feature allows for students to be grouped via house, year level, classroom or club. Students can be nominated as Team Leaders and organise volunteering activities.
Origin Story
On September 4th 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Canterbury, New Zealand, causing widespread damage - particularly in the city of Ōtautahi Christchurch. In the wake of the disaster, 11,000 students mobilised to help with the clean-up - coordinated by our founder, Sam Johnson.
This was the beginning of the Student Volunteer Army.
Today, SVA is a network of tens of thousands of volunteers driven by a desire to help their communities. Our programmes at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels empower youth through volunteering; cultivate a lasting culture of service; and build resilient, connected communities.
Together, we show up for the big events. We have evolved to become leaders of second wave crisis response, helping communities recover after disaster. Over the past decade, SVA volunteers have supported clean-up and recovery after eight national crisis events - from collecting and delivering groceries during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 to operating major clean-up operations after the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, closely followed by Cyclone Gabrielle, in 2023.
Does your school currently conduct structured volunteering programmes?
Would you like your prefects to be acknowledged at a national level for the hours of service they give to the school?
Do you have students whose contribution to school life perhaps goes unrecognised?
Do you have students who provide unpaid care for whānau and can’t participate in extra-curricular activities but need a CV profile?
Why volunteer?
How it works
We discuss activities at your school that might qualify students for service award hours.
Your school chooses to register as an SVA Service Award School.
We send you an initial supply of membership pins.
Students sign up to the SVA platform and self manage logging their hours through the app or website.
Teachers involved are invited to a free online community with resources, updates and support.
We notify you regarding any student whose logged hours qualify them for the next level of pin.
You receive a monthly pin send out to distribute to students who have earned them.
How can our school register?
The SVA Service Award is completely free of charge but can only be awarded to students by a participating New Zealand secondary school. 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 secondary school career.
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.
Interested in registering your school?
The SVA Service Award lets any student...
‘...when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.”
— Dr Syed Muhammad Zeeshan Hussain Almashhadi
-
Volunteering hours on the SVA App or at volunteer.sva.org.nz
-
SVA Service Pins for hours of volunteer time logged. Pins include member, bronze, silver, gold and top volunteer. Top volunteer is the most hours logged at your school for that volunteering year. There is also a nationally recognised top volunteer.
-
A Service Record
-
In applications (for jobs, university, tech, apprenticeships and scholarships).
-
SVA Ambassadors are leaders of the Service Award in their school community, selected based on their outstanding performance in the programme.
-
A PDF Summary of Service Record is available for free download at any time to any student who has registered their hours at volunteer.sva.org.nz.
Five level pin system
The SVA Foundation | Te Hunga Tūao
The SVA is passionate about providing meaningful service opportunities for young people across Aotearoa. The SVA Service Award is a national framework aimed to recognise and celebrate the impact and contributions of our young people. As a leader and facilitator within our community, you are now empowered with access to our SVA Service Award free website, app and resources to connect you with your school, team and wider community.