100 reading volunteers already in schools

Getting London reading: There are already 100 volunteers in schools
10 April 2012

The Evening Standard's Get London Reading campaign has hit the ground running with 100 volunteers in primary schools across the capital only weeks into the new school year.

Another 100 volunteers have been trained by our partner charity, Volunteer Reading Help - most will be deployed by half-term. The 100 new reading volunteers have been placed in 70 schools.

The success comes after the EU commissioner for education revealed the scheme could become a blueprint for how the rest of Europe tackles literacy. Androulla Vassiliou visited London to see our campaign in action as it hit the £200,000 mark.

As she visited the William Davis primary school in Tower Hamlets to see our reading volunteer programme, she said: "Your campaign will not only impact the UK but could have ripples through Europe. The Standard campaign is unique in that it is the only newspaper-led literacy initiative in Europe."

Today we can also report that 13 new primary schools have also contacted Volunteer Reading Help to ask about volunteer helpers in the last few weeks.

It costs a school just £500 to get one reading volunteer to help three children for one year, a value-for-money outlay of less than £170 per pupil helped.

Catherine Morgans-Slader, headteacher of William Davis, said she had increased the number of reading volunteers from two to three because it has proved "outstanding value for money".

So far we have raised £200,000 for Get London Reading, enough to sponsor 400 reading volunteers. However, we need more schools to sign up.

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