The Reader – the UK’s biggest Shared Reading charity – based in South Liverpool, pairs care-experienced children aged two to 15-years-old with highly trained volunteers, as part of its Reading Heroes initiative.
Reading Heroes has been running since 2016 and aims to spark a love of reading stories and poems. Volunteers give an hour a week to read stories and poems aloud with the children both online and in-person for around nine months.
The work is overseen by an experienced project team who train and support volunteers to deliver lively and engaging Shared Reading sessions; and provide ongoing safeguarding provision ensuring carers, partners, volunteers and the young people are supported throughout.
Families and carers report great improvements to children’s wellbeing, confidence, self-esteem, and attitude to reading. After their one-to-one reading sessions end, a book is posted to their home every two months for the next year – and they are invited to join a range of special Meet the Author events.
Care-experienced children are referred onto the Reading Heroes project and its follow-on legacy programme by Virtual Schools in Liverpool City Region (LCR), Sefton, Halton, Bolton, Bury, Oldham and London’s Tower Hamlets, including three unaccompanied asylum-seeker children. A further 152 children are on the waiting list.
The Reader is looking for volunteers who can read with to a child aged between 5-15 years old online (as a Reading Heroes volunteer) or in person with a child aged between 2-4 years (as a Tiny Heroes volunteer). Please note: Tiny Heroes is currently running in Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton only. Both require a minimum commitment of six months. The reading normally takes place for up to an hour between 4pm-7pm on a week day (as a Reading Heroes volunteer) or 9am-5pm (as a Tiny Heroes volunteer).
Training will be provided and will take place online
The Reader will ask you to undertake a number of safeguarding requirements for this role including an enhanced DBS check, a reference request and safeguarding training. To start your Reading Heroes journey, fill in a volunteer application form here:
For further information about Reading Heroes visit here: https://www.thereader.org.uk/what-we-do/who-we-read-with/reading-heroes/