ttKensaltoKilburn vs. Childhood Illiteracy

[Rachel Ellis]

Hi everyone!

I work for a charity called Beanstalk (formerly ‘Volunteer Reading Help’) which tackles the problem of childhood illiteracy by facilitating community volunteering in local primary schools. You might have seen our 'Get London Reading' campaign in the evening standard.

Did you know that last academic year a quarter of all primary school leavers were unable to read adequately, and this figure rises to 2 out of 5 children in poverty? Interventions such as Beanstalk's volunteers have already made an impact; putting Kensal and Kilburn into the top quarter of areas for getting kids reading and closing the poverty gap. But there is still a long way to go before every child has the skills they need to succeed in life.

By volunteering as a Reading Helper you can make an outstanding contribution to a child's reading ability, self-confidence, love of reading and overall school work. Spending an hour a week of quality time with each of 3 primary school children really does change their lives. And it looks like this: https://vimeo.com/115081871

I wondered if ttKensaltoKilburn might be able to partner with us in recruiting Reading Helpers. While I understand that childhood illiteracy is a little different to the issues you usually tackle, I believe this partnership could be a springboard to making a huge difference in the lives and welfare of the children from Kensal to Kilburn. Perhaps I could speak at one of your meetings and invite all our current volunteers who live in your area to join you.

Looking forward to meeting some of you soon,

Rachel