Watch: 500 volunteers now helping make mini bookworms

Tuesday 03 April 2018

They say the best gift you can give someone is your time, and it seems more and more islanders are doing just that in order to help children learn to love reading, as a local charity launched just 18 months ago to help improve kids' literacy levels has now hit over 500 volunteers.

The ‘Every Child Our Future’ reading scheme was first piloted with four schools in September 2016, but its popularity with islanders wanting to give back to the community has now seen it provide invaluable one-to-one reading time in 14 schools.

Nick Kershaw, Co-founder of Every Child Our Future, described the initiative's growth as "incredible." He added that he didn’t expect to attract over 500 helpers from 26 corporate supporters, people from the community and students from various schools just a year and a half after the scheme's launch.

“It’s been fantastic to see the way the business community has really embraced this as an opportunity to support education. I think there’s a real appetite amongst the business community to invest in education and to do their bit to help with children. 

“I think what the great thing is about the volunteers is they read with the same children every week so they really get to know the children and they get to know where the issues are with the children, maybe it’s not always just decoding, sometimes it’s about comprehension. So they get to know where the children need that extra support and they are able to provide that support by reading with them on a regular basis week in week out," he told Express.

Video: Over 500 people are now volunteering with 'Every Child Our Future' to help literacy levels among 5 to 7 year-olds. 

The scheme set a goal to get 95% of key stage one children in Jersey to reach their age-related standards in literacy and numeracy through early intervention, as currently only 82% of pupils in non-fee paying primary schools are hitting the levels expected. That’s 8% below the UK level.

The schools signed up to the charity project are already seeing improvements within the children’s reading abilities.

Pictured: The 'Every Child Our Future' reading initiative now has over 500 volunteers giving children one-to-one reading sessions. 

“These volunteers are committed to our children’s future. They’re not only giving sponsorship, but they are giving their time, and we’ve got over 80 children who are receiving that extra one-to-one reading opportunity with that adult. Having that adult to read with is really important. It’s not just an impact on their learning, the relationships they are building, the confidence in reading and that love of reading is really developing,” said Sarah Achler, a teacher at Samarés School, which was one of the first schools to get involved in ‘Every Child Our Future’.

She added: “We know that reading is what’s helping to close that attainment gap, and teachers and parents are talking about the difference that they’ve seen in their children and the difference across the curriculum, how children are able to access the curriculum a whole lot better.”

Sarah also told Express the scheme is growing a community of bookworms, as the children get really excited when it’s time for their reading session. But they are not the only ones - it seems the volunteers get as much enjoyment from it too. 

Ian Roberts is in his second year of volunteering with the initiative, and looks forward to his visits to Samarés school. 

Pictured: Ian Roberts volunteers at Samarés School because he feels "it’s wonderful to sit with these children and to help them learn how to read."

“For me, first of all, it’s a nice break from the business day, but I think most importantly it gives me an opportunity to spend some time to put something back into the community, which in the jobs that we do we are not always able to do that naturally, and it’s wonderful to sit with these children and to help them learn how to read. It is a key skill which they need which will be helpful in their schooling.”

As a Director at Link Asset Services - a business with 25 employees signed up to the scheme - Ian has also seen the benefits amongst his colleagues. “We do spend a few minutes afterwards comparing notes. I suppose relaying the comments or the questions or the stories that we hear from the children as well and I think that is also part of the fun... This gives us an added purpose and sense of achievement which we don’t find in the normal course of business.”

Having succeeded in attracting over 500 volunteers, the charity is now delivering support in 14 primary schools across the island, but Nick now hopes they will be able to double their volunteers, who they train and provide DBS checks for, to reach out to all 22 primary schools by the end of the year. 

“I think there’s certainly scope for a 1000 volunteers, and in fact I think even now we may be the largest volunteering organisation in the Channel Islands and the great thing as a volunteering opportunity that it gives that  regular, continuing opportunity for our volunteers to go in.”