A BRADFORD student has won a national Young Volunteer of the Year award for her work with Barnardo's in the city.

Khadeeja Bashir (pictured), 21, is one of the 20,000 people across the country who volunteer for the charity. She works for Bradford SENDIASS service which helps parents and children with special educational needs to navigate the system.

Her efforts have seen her win the Marsh Trust Young Volunteer of the Year Award, which was presented to her by Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan (pictured)

On winning the award, she said: “I’m very proud to be from Bradford - it’s a big thing for me and I feel like I’m representing the city. It’s such a great multicultural place and it’s good to be recognised for making a difference.

“I’m just appreciative that out of the thousands of Barnardo’s volunteers it was me who was selected as the volunteer of the year. My parents are very proud of me as it’s a national award.”

Khadeeja shadows the case workers going to different schools and meetings with parents and children. She translates into Urdu and does administrative office work to support the team.

She was nominated by Debbie Jowett who manages the SENDIASS service.

Debbie said: “Khadeeja is an integral part of our team and she supports each and every team member – she always lifts the mood of the office with her bubbly personality. She has shown incredible commitment to the service and continues to do so, and it has been lovely to watch her learn and grow in confidence during her time here.

"She deserves recognition for her input, without which we wouldn’t be able to dedicate the same amount of time to support families in the way we do.”

Barnardo’s has more than 8,000 committed staff and more than 20,000 dedicated volunteers, without whom, many children and young people would not get the vital support they need every day.

Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the dedicated volunteer’s page on the Barnardo’s website at barnardos.org.uk/get_involved/volunteering