16 – 17-year-old volunteering: Reading Mentors

Name: Kind
Price range: $

We are proud to work with sixth-form schools and offer a meaningful volunteering opportunity to 16 – 17-year-olds.

Ignite the joy of reading

Our Reading Mentor Programme gives 16 to 17-year-olds the opportunity to read with children in a local primary school.

Your students will spend one 30-minute session a week reading stories and playing games with a child aged between five and ten.

Becoming a reading mentor will be a fantastic addition to CVs and stand out on UCAS applications. The volunteering can also be counted towards Duke of Edinburgh volunteering hours or International Baccalaureate CAS hours.

Help them shape a better future

Your students will get to see their young reader progress, knowing that they are opening a world of opportunity for their future.

Email readingmentors@bookmarkreading.org to get your sixth form or college involved.

Solly Hardwick, Director, Westminster School

What volunteers gain from this role

As a reading mentor, 16 – 17 year old volunteers will:

Reading skills

Help children gain the reading skills they need to progress at school and in life
Boost self-confidence

Boost self-confidence both for themselves as well as the children with whom they read
Reading can be fun!

Improve their planning and delivery skills through resource selection for reading sessions
Make a positive impact

92% of Bookmark volunteers feel that they’ve positively impacted a child

Six benefits of becoming a student volunteer with Bookmark

Learn more about our Reading Mentor Programme and the benefits of volunteering for sixth-form or college students.

Bookmark volunteer with his reader in a school library. They are smiling and pointing to a book about The Universe. The reader is wearing a grey school uniform and the volunteer is in a shirt with a Bookmark lanyard round his neck.

Safeguarding

Ensuring the safety of children and volunteers is at the very heart of what we do. You can find our safeguarding, safer recruitment and other policies relating to volunteering here.