What do we do?
Schoolreaders goal is for all children, regardless of background, to leave primary school being able to read well so they can go on to access their secondary education fully and maximise their future life chances.
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.
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 16,500 children every week.
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.
Click here to view our most recent Accounts and here to see our latest Impact Report.
Discover some of the facts behind
the UK's literacy problem, and see why our service is so urgently needed.
Recognition of the Schoolreaders scheme:
"Evidence is clear that where school reading volunteers are involved in a structured programme and given appropriate training and support, for instance by charities such as …. Schoolreaders, the results can be highly effective."
Lord Nash,
Conservative Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools (2013-2017)
"We are delighted with the success of the Schoolreaders project and believe it will play an important contribution helping children learn to read and in them becoming established independent readers. This project has our full support and we are extremely grateful to the volunteers who give up their time so generously."
Councillor Henry Vann,
Portfolio Holder for Education,
Bedford Borough Council
"Having been an English teacher at an inner-city comprehensive, I know how difficult it is when children arrive at senior school being unable to read properly. It puts them at such a disadvantage. Schoolreaders is a brilliant idea, not just for an individual child, but for society as a whole."
Allison Pearson,
Chief Interviewer on the Daily Telegraph, and author of international bestseller,
'I Don't Know How She Does It'.
The Worshipful Company of Grocers
‘We are delighted to be funding you. The Committee thought your operating model was brilliant!’
Our network has spread rapidly
since we were founded in 2013. View our map to see where we operate.
Schoolreaders is run by a small
team of full-time staff with the help of lots of volunteers. Find out who we are.