Established in 2013, Schoolreaders matches volunteers to local primary schools - focusing on schools with the greatest need - where they give one-to-one reading sessions.
With some children affected by the pandemic and others coping with Special Needs or language development difficulties, there is no one size fits all for children. Under 11s develop their reading skills at different speeds and tailored one-to-one support is ideal for developing their reading experience in their formative years.
Just ten minutes a week with one of our volunteers has been shown to improve children’s reading fluency, comprehension and enjoyment. It also gives them valuable time with an adult who is not a teacher or parent which aids their social skills. The Fair Education Alliance reinforces this need saying children need to ‘engage with a wide range of adults including volunteers and businesses to support their literacy.’ Currently, our volunteers support 10,000 children every week.
We are looking for volunteers who are available for at least one hour a week to go to the same school for one year. This allows children to benefit from the continuity of working with the same volunteer. No particular qualifications are required but an enjoyment of reading and working with children is prefered.
Schoolreaders is completely free for schools to use. Typically, volunteers will spend 10 minutes listening to each child read. As the sessions are 1:1 this allows volunteers to tailor the session to best meet the needs of each child, spending time chatting about the book, and sharing reading.
Our Opportunities
School readers need volunteers to go into local primary schools in Middlesbrough during the school day to listen to the children read to them 1:1 SUITABLE FOR WE MODULE