By Ginny Lunn, Beanstalk CEO

8 September 2018

Today marks International Literacy Day, an important day which underscores the significant role literacy plays in our upbringing and highlights the challenges that children who struggle with reading and wider literacy skills face.  

With children now back to school across the country, it’s also a critical time for us at Beanstalk. We want to ensure we have enough trained volunteers ready to deliver one-to-one reading support to those pupils who need extra support and encouragement with their reading to prevent them from falling further behind. 

New statistics just announced by the Department of Education reveal that over 156,000 primary school leavers in England did not achieve the expected level in reading in the last academic year.

This means that a large proportion of children are still being left behind without the key literacy skills they need to give them the best possible start in life. This is shocking and needs to be tackled. This statistic is at the forefront of our minds as we aim to reach more children with our life-changing reading programmes than ever before over the next school year.  

To help us achieve this, we’re appealing for new volunteers to come forward to help support children in local primary schools and early years settings with their reading.  

If you can spare a few hours a week to make that difference, please read the information about our volunteering roles or call 0845 450 0307 to find out more about our work and how you can sign up as a Beanstalk reading helper. 

Thank you

Don’t have the time to volunteer? 

We need your help in a number of ways to help children who struggle with reading. If you would like to get involved through either donating, fundraising or through a corporate partnership, please visit the relevant areas of the website to find out about a range of other opportunities where you can help rewrite the story for many children across England.