#Chances4Children: Hundreds of volunteers sign up to children’s reading scheme

Schoolreaders, a national children’s literacy charity, has seen a huge surge in new volunteers signing up to its one-to-one reading scheme for primary school children since the first lockdown.   

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Before the first national lockdown in March 2020, the charity was providing a one-to-one reading support session to over 12,700 children each week in over 650 primary schools.  

More than 1,000 new volunteers have since signed up to Schoolreaders which means that once they are able to be in schools, a further 10,000 children can be supported with their reading each week.  

The surge in volunteers comes amid a rise in demand from schools with more than 10 per cent of England’s primary schools signing up for support.

While schools are closed, Schoolreaders has adapted its provision in order to continue supporting children’s reading both in school and at home with digital volunteering and the Schoolreaders Storytime video book library.

The network of Schoolreaders’ volunteers across the UK listen to children read in primary schools and this one-to-one reading support helps children's reading fluency, comprehension and enjoyment.  

An annual survey commissioned by the charity in partnership with the institute for research in education at the University of Bedfordshire found that 92 per cent of schools noted a positive impact on children’s reading confidence after taking part in the scheme while 78 per cent said it had improved reading fluency and 73 per cent said it had boosted children’s self-esteem. 

Andrea Ward, headteacher of Renhold VC Primary School which uses Schoolreaders’ volunteers said: “During the previous lockdown, we found that the gap between some groups of pupils had widened, whether down to lack of access to technology or lack of confidence and the uncertainty of knowing how best to support children. 

“Apart from rebuilding the emotional wellbeing of our pupils, when schools reopen, our priority throughout the school is reading. We passionately believe that teaching children to read is one of our core purposes and reading culture links directly to children’s attainment. One element of this is developing a love of reading or ‘reading for pleasure’ and this is where the Schoolreaders volunteers come into their own.” 

Jane Whitbread, founder of Schoolreaders added: “It is really heartening to see that more people from the general public are stepping up to help support their local communities through volunteering, since the start of the pandemic.  

“We have seen this first with the NHS and now in education. The impact of this second wave of school closures on children’s well-being, learning and future life chances is now top of the nation’s agenda.”