By Sheila Mckenzie-
A long established charity has launched an appeal for volunteers to support primary school children develop an interest in reading.
Coram Beanstalk has launched an appeal for volunteers to motivate youngsters in reading and will be placing them in schools to support children aged five to 11 through weekly sessions. The charity which has been running since the 70’s is committed to bringing out the best in children, many of whom struggle for motivation to read.
Analysts say that a high percentage of people who assist children develop reading skills say it makes them feel more mentally active. Sally Webb of Coram Beanstalk told The Eye Of Media.Com:
”technology and gadgets are competing with books and we need people who are committed to inspiring our youngsters to read.
We provide training sessions and will require them for an hour on roughly two days a week”. Volunteers will be placed in a local primary school to help three children, aged between 5-11, twice a week for at least one academic year (three terms, starting at any time of the year). The aim is to help them improve their reading ability, confidence and develop the love for reading.
”Some children are not confident readers and need that extra encouragement to build their interest in reading. Parents these days are too busy to invest the necessary time in supporting their kids enough by buying them books. Children that don’t have books around them tend to develop without the passion for reading.
LITERACY ATTAINMENT
Coram Beam’s Reading Leaders programme is reputed for improving literacy attainment and achieving wider engagement across the curriculum by training older students to support younger ones for whom reading is a challenge. The Reading Leaders programme is designed to train, support and credit young people from Years 9 – 13 to help students at least two years younger than themselves improve their reading skills, attitude towards reading and reading confidence.
Early this year, McCarthy & Stone – the UK’s leading developer of retirement communities – raised a whopping £200,000 through its year-long fundraising partnership with Coram Beanstalk, achieving twice the target it set itself for the year.
OUTCOMES
The retirement community developer chose Coram Beanstalk as its charity partner for 2019 to help improve outcomes for children who struggle with reading, while promoting the well being benefits of intergenerational volunteering among its nationwide communities. Originally setting itself a target of £100,000, the organisation doubled the amount it expected to raise following a great response from its employees, residents and partners.
Those who wish to discover more about the programmes available to schools, or to apply as a volunteer in a school or early years setting, should visit corambeanstalk.org.uk or call 020 7729 4087.
Image: Coram Beamstock