Volunteer as a School Reader

One in four children aged 11 failed to reach the expected reading standard in 2017. Illiteracy affects all areas of life. Many schools struggle to find the resources to help children who may be falling behind the rest of the class with their reading levels.

Parents also find it hard to spare the time to read with their children. Now that figures are out for 2018, the report states that “only 60 per cent of pupils in Dorset managed to obtain the expect government standards in reading, writing and maths” with the national figure of 64%.

Schoolreaders is a national literacy charity which recruits, matches and supports reading volunteers to help primary school children, at no cost to the school. Currently Schoolreaders has over 1,000 volunteers operating in 380 partner schools throughout England. During 2018 Schoolreaders volunteers delivered over a quarter of a million one-on-one reading sessions.

Schoolreaders is looking for volunteers in the Beaminster area to read at local primary schools. It only takes an hour or two a week to read one-on-one with children and it will match up the volunteer to a school which is local to them.

To become a volunteer you will need a good command of English and a bit of spare time each week in the school year (Schoolreaders asks for a minimum commitment of a year). Schoolreaders will match you to an appropriate local school. Our volunteers really enjoy being Schoolreaders; 99% say they would recommend the scheme to someone considering volunteering.

To find out more or to register visit the website at www.schoolreaders.org.