Call for volunteers to boost school literacy levels

Bronwen Gamble (l) is one of many volunteers giving their spare time to help children read

A reading charity based in Nottingham has set a target to place a volunteer in every primary school - as the city and county remain below average in literacy standards.

Literacy Volunteers, founded in 1996, supports children aged four to 11 with one-to-one reading time during school hours.

Lorna Jaggard, from the charity, said research showed that children who read for pleasure "will do better" at school, and that this leads to better employment prospects.

Government statistics show the percentage of pupils below expected reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation standards in Nottinghamshire and Nottingham has been worse than the England average since at least 2015.

Ms Jaggard said any volunteers who sign up are vetted and receive training

Ms Jaggard said five years after the pandemic, which proved "incredibly challenging", the charity now has volunteers in about 90 schools.

"I think our big focus now is building ourselves back up to what we were pre-Covid and then expanding beyond that."

She described literacy across the UK and locally as being in "a bit of a crisis" because of a decline in reading.

It follows a recent report by the National Literacy Trust, which showed that fewer than one in five children read daily outside of school - the lowest level in two decades.

"Individual schools are doing an amazing job, they're committed and passionate, but having the time to spend one-to-one with children [to read] is just impossible," she said.

"Our volunteers go the extra mile, they spend half an hour with the child, they read together, they have a box of resources, and they spend loads of time really getting to know the children."

Each volunteer will support around four to five pupils at a primary school

Kate Marusiak, from South Wilford Endowed CofE Primary School, said the scheme was working well for its pupils, and it would be "really fantastic" to extend it to every school.

"Once you get the right book into children's hands, then actually you can turn around a reluctant reader.

"I think the relationship that [their school's volunteer] has created with the children is really special. They feel really safe, they feel really happy to get things wrong.

"It's just a joy to see them giggling or hear them chatting and really see that love of reading develop."

'More volunteers'

Ms Jaggard said their target to reach every school in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire would not happen quickly, but that it was "realistic".

There are a total of 362 primary schools across both local authority areas, which means the charity is almost 25% towards its goal.

"We've recently built Bassetlaw back up from losing pretty much every volunteer during Covid, so we're now back in ten schools which is fantastic.

"It's taking that kind of measuring approach, focussing on the areas that need us most first."

She added that to achieve the goal, it required "more volunteers", and to this end the charity had appointed its first ever patron - author and campaigner Jacob Dunne.

Mr Dunne, 33, was jailed in 2011 for manslaughter after he threw a single punch at James Hodgkinson, who died.

He was then given help to turn his life around by Mr Hodgkinson's mother, Joan Scourfield, after a restorative justice meeting and has since campaigned against violence alongside her.

Mr Dunne said he struggled at school only read his first book at age of 20, but wants his own two children to have a better chance.

He added: "We need as many people as possible with some time on their hands that want to have an impact on young children's lives.

"If you're one of them, then you should reach out and get involved."