Are you an existing Chapter One volunteer who'd love to try something new? We're looking for volunteers to join our Book Clubs Programme for reluctant readers in Years 4 and 5.

Could you be part of this transformation?

As a Book Club volunteer, you'll have informal, relaxed conversations with a child about books they've chosen based on their own interests. Your role is simply to listen, chat, and help them see that their opinions about books matter. Last year, volunteers witnessed remarkable changes: children who had previously avoided reading began picking books off the shelf unprompted. One pupil told us: "I used to hate reading, but the club makes it fun." Another reflected: "It's actually made me like reading a bit more than before. I used to just play on my Xbox." Volunteers found the experience deeply rewarding – and you could too.

Our 2025 pilot

From January-May 2025, we piloted Book Clubs across four primary schools, working with 48 reluctant readers from Years 4 and 5. The results from our independent evaluation by The Open University were remarkable.

After 10 weeks of Book Club:

• Children enjoying reading increased by 19 percentage points (from 38% to 57%)

• Those children reading 2-3 times per week or more rose by 15 percentage points (from 70% to 85%)

• Children viewing themselves as good readers increased by 27 percentage points (from 48% to 75%)

Read more about our 2025 pilot results

The commitment

• One training session (45 minutes)

• Six reading sessions (30 minutes each), starting from 2 March

• Sessions will take place on a fixed schedule (alternate weeks), to be confirmed during recruitment

• Volunteers can be located anywhere in England, as all sessions are virtual

• Volunteers should be available for training during the week commencing 9 February and ready to start reading from the week commencing 2 March

• All sessions will be facilitated via Teams (with video) by a Reading Facilitator

Lunch and Learn - come and find out more!

Come along to a Lunch and Learn session! These will be hosted on Microsoft Teams, click the link below to sign up:

• Tuesday 9 December, 12-12:30pm

• Thursday 15 January, 1-1:30pm

Training webinars

If you sign up as a volunteer, you will need to attend one training session in February before you begin reading:

• Tuesday 10 February, 12-12:45pm

• Thursday 12 February, 1-1:45pm

To register your interest, please contact your Volunteer Coordinator (who will have directed you to this webpage).