Right to Read

Right to Read

Background

Right to Read is a national programme which aims to improve the literacy of primary aged children by providing trained employee volunteers in local schools. The programme started following a conversation between a Yorkshire Water Director and a Head Teacher in Leeds: programmes have since developed in a number of cities across the country. York Cares maintains a level of about 60 volunteers covering 40 reading places and helping 240 children across the city.

Right to Read is one of York Cares oldest programmes and has proved to be very popular with businesses, employee volunteers and schools. It has proved a good entry point for new volunteers, offering a structured programme with a light level of commitment which fits into the working day. Right to Read encourages sustained volunteering and has become a vehicle through which volunteers have engaged with other York Cares opportunities.

Process

Every volunteer who registers for Right to Read will attend a two hour training session with a local Deputy Head (previously a Literacy Consultant). They will learn the recommended government procedures for helping children to learn to read and they will work through some problem examples. They will also cover the necessary safety and child protection protocol before completing a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. When the forms are returned, each volunteer will attend an induction at their school. The link teacher for the school will give a guided tour of the building and will usually introduce the volunteer to their specific class and teacher. This is also when volunteers arrange a suitable day and time of the week for their placement. This will be by mutual agreement of the volunteer and school and is usually fairly flexible. After this the volunteer can start their placement straight away!

Frequently asked questions

  1. Can anyone volunteer?  Any member of staff in a York Cares member company is eligible to volunteer. Full training and support is provided so no previous experience is required.
  2. How much time does my placement require?  Placements are one hour a week for one academic term. We recruit volunteers for the summer and autumn terms and we ask you to continue your placement up till the summer holidays and Christmas holidays respectively. Many volunteers decide to extend their placement beyond these holidays though and form an ongoing arrangement with the school.
  3. I can’t manage to go in every week, can I share my placement?  Yes that’s no problem. We are quite happy for you to share your placement with a colleague or with another volunteer at the same school.
  4. I often get sent away for work. Will this be a problem?  Possibly. The schools prefer that the children meet a regular volunteer so if you often get sent away then this scheme may not be suitable for you. However the schools also appreciate that work commitments are often unavoidable so missing the odd week is not usually a problem if you let them know in advance. We ask that you consider in advance your commitments and try to commit to the term ahead in full.
  5. Which schools are available for placements?  We work with 16 different primary schools across the city throughout the year. Each Easter and September we will have a range of schools available from the North, East, West and Central districts of the city. This geographical range allows us to place volunteers in schools close to their place of work. However we are fairly flexible so if you have a desire to volunteer at a particular school please get in touch and we will see what we can do.
  6. I already have a CRB check, do I need to do another one? Yes. Everyone has to be checked by York Cares regardless of previous CRB checks.
  7. What documents do I have to provide for the CRB check? You will need to provide either three or five documents for your check. A couple of weeks before the training session we shall send out a full list of suitable documents to all Right to Read participants.
  8. Do I have to attend the training session? The training session is compulsory for all new members. There will be one training session in July for those starting in September and another in January for those staring at Easter. They take place on a weekday, 12-2pm in the city centre. Past members are welcome to attend training sessions to ‘refresh’ their knowledge if they wish. To register interest and find out about our next available training session please York Cares.
  9. Do you need me to fill in any forms to register for the scheme?  We do not require you to fill anything in before the training session. Please just bring your CRB documents to the training session and we will provide everything else.

 

Get involved!

To find out more about how your organisation can get involved in Right to Read — or anything else about York Cares — just contact our dedicated team, based at the University of York. We would love to hear from you.

Call us ...

01904 323482

... or email us