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1617-year-old volunteering: Reading Mentors

We are proud to work with sixth-form schools and offer a meaningful volunteering opportunity to 1617-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. 

Bookmark helps to connect young people in different stages of their development and allows them to help each other. Their pupils learn crucial literacy skills, and our pupils develop their ability to empathise, educate, and inspire. It has been a formative experience for everyone involved, and I hope we can continue to grow these relationships and put our wonderful pupils to good use in the community.

Solly Hardwick, Director, Westminster School

What volunteers gain from this role

As a reading mentor, 1617 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


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. 

Reading mentor partner schools

Register your school for our Reading Mentor Programme

Interested in volunteering opportunities for your students? Contact us today to register your school as a Bookmark Reading Mentor Partner.

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