A-level students helping youngsters with reading

A Sheffield primary school has called on the help of local A-level students to help with their pupils' reading skills.

Twice a week, sixth form students from Forge Valley Secondary School in Stannington have been reading with Key Stage 1 pupils, aged five to seven, at their neighbourhood primary school, Shooter's Grove.

The scheme is part of a reading mentorship campaign run by the Bookmark Reading Charity, which aims to work with schools in some of the most deprived areas of the UK.

Victoria Sparrow, teacher and reading lead at Shooter's Grove, said: "These days children don't get enough exposure to reading and not all children get to experience lots of different books at home."

According to the Bookmark charity, one in four primary school children in the UK are unable to read at the expected level.

The charity, which began in 2018, currently works with five primary schools in Sheffield where pupils fall below the national average for Key Stage 2 reading scores, with only 71% meeting the expected standard in the city - against the national average of 75%.

CEO Emily Jack said the charity's "mission" was simple: "We want to ensure every child can read and we do this by improving children's literacy and by promoting a reading for pleasure culture in primary schools."

She said they focused on supporting children in the most disadvantaged communities as they were "affected more significantly" which went on to "hamper future opportunities in terms of being able to thrive".

Chloe, a Year 12 pupil at Forge Valley volunteered to be a mentor because she also "struggled" with reading in primary school.

"I couldn't read which meant I couldn't write and I didn't get much help in school so it's so good they do this. I didn't get that help," she said.

The sixth former now reads each week with six year olds Eris and Heather.

"I don't want to make them read if they don't want to because I want it to be fun, so we do reading games too. They don't see me as authority over them."

It seems her tactics are working too as the Year 2 pupils agree.

Heather said: "I like reading because it's so fun and we can chose which stories we read."

Eris agreed: " I like reading with Chloe because I like playing games and it's really fun."

The mentor scheme has also helped a plug a dedicated reading time gap in schools where staff are already stretched.

Rachel Petters, Head of Sixth Form at Forge Valley, said the programme had huge benefits for her pupils.

"It's brilliant that these young people give up their time to do this and it's really selfless of them that they should want to give back to the community as well," she added.

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