Read With Me is a Gloucestershire organisation, which was set up to ensure that in the future every child will move to secondary school able to read well.

Detailed description

Children who are unable to read properly at 7 never really catch up. These children do less well at school, have reduced employment choices and earning opportunities and a greater chance of going to prison. And research shows that adults who can read for pleasure are generally happier overall.

Every year 200,000 children will leave primary school unable to read well

1 in 4 five years olds struggle with basic vocabulary

96% of primary school teachers are concerned about pupil’s speech and language

Children who can’t read can’t take advantage of their education or play a full part in society.

And these statistics are from before Covid made everything even harder for schools, parents and children.

Our volunteers hear each child read once or twice a week for 10/15 minutes which also helps improve communication and social skills and confidence.

We hear 1500 children a week but urgently need to be able to provide this support to 5,000 children.

We are looking for a volunteer to hear Y3 - Y6 children at Berry Hill School, Coleford one afternoon a week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday), starting as soon as possible.

Read what just two of our volunteers said recently -

‘It’s always so rewarding to see children’s reading skills improve over the weeks, knowing that I’ve played a small part in that’. Anne Parsons

“Working with Read With Me is a complete joy. Getting to know the children, seeing the difference our sessions make to their self-esteem (and even their reading skills) after only a few weeks, discovering how much we volunteers are

appreciated by the teachers — all this makes my regular Thursday afternoon visit an absorbing and rewarding experience.” Nicholas Harris

What volunteers need😇 Disclosure and Barring Service

What we will provide to volunteers

🤝 Extra support

Getting there

The organiser has marked this opportunity as filled. Applications are closed. You can find other volunteering opportunities here.

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Berry Hill Opportunities > Read With Me > Reading volunteers

About Read With Me

Read With Me provide one-to-one support in primary schools across Gloucestershire, to help every child learn to read well before they go to secondary school enabling them to fully partake in education.
Our volunteers hear children read once or twice a week for 10/15 minutes and this creates discussion and this in turn improves social and communication skills and builds confidence.
We provide training and support for all our volunteers and equip you with the resources needed, such as pens, notebooks and the much wanted reward stickers for the children.

See more opportunities by Read With Me