5 things Bookmark Reading Charity can do for your school
I’m Bea and I’m the new Head of Schools here at Bookmark Reading Charity. I joined Bookmark in March of 2021, just as schools were coming out of their last Covid-19 lockdown, and as their need for our services exploded. Starting as what is now a School Relationship Manager, I have led the School Business Development team since 2022 and have recently taken on the role of Head of Schools from September 2023. My background in the education sector and my experience at Bookmark means I am passionate about delivering the best possible outcomes for the schools that need us the most.
I’m really proud of everything we do to support schools. This is an idea of what a partnership with Bookmark can give your school:
1. Reading programmes
Bookmark’s reading programme offers support for children in Years 1 to 5 who are at risk of not meeting the expected standard for reading.
Our six-week programme provides two, 30-minute, one-to-one reading sessions each week, with a trained volunteer. These sessions take place online through our secure, interactive platform.
To make this support available to as many children as possible, we offer our programmes at a cost of just £1 per session - that’s £12 for a full programme.
2. The Story Corner Magazine
The Story Corner Magazine is packed full of stories, activities, and games so that children on our programme and beyond can continue to enjoy reading over their holiday breaks.
We’ve distributed over 447,000 copies of the magazine to children at schools, food banks, pupil referral units and children’s hospitals across the country to take home and enjoy.
3. School packages
We offer exclusive perks to our partner schools based on the number of reading programmes that are delivered per term.
These include:
Annual grant for Literacy CPD, £250 per school year (annual application June/award September)
An annual grant to promote whole school reading culture, £250 per school year (annual application June/award September)
Comic Book Club for disengaged readers, worth £700
4. Your Story Corner
We’re delighted to offer schools the opportunity to develop a whole school reading culture and embed reading for pleasure into the lives of their pupils with our Your Story Corner pack. Read more about our Your Story Corner activity in Leicester and Plymouth on our blog.
We are currently offering Your Story Corner to schools in Sheffield, but we will be distributing packs to new areas soon.
5. Bookmark Book Booster
We offer free reading resources for your school through our Bookmark Book Booster. You receive a specially curated termly book pack, worth £150 each for three terms. These brand new, high quality and diverse texts are centred around a theme, such as graphic novels, poetry and non-fiction, as we know these types of books are often missing in school libraries or classroom shelves.
We have just offered our Book Booster packs to schools in Islington, and we hope to distribute packs to new areas soon. Click here to find out more.