Volunteer Reading Help (VRH) is a national charity that helps disadvantaged children develop a love of reading and learning.

We recruit and train volunteers to work with children aged six to 11 who find reading a challenge and may need extra support and mentoring.

Without individual support children can fall behind their peers and lack confidence and self-esteem. In later years they may drift into offending behaviour.

Our trained network of reading helpers support the same children week in, week out, giving each an hour of quality, one-to-one time. They read, they play, they talk.

With the support of VRH their approach to learning and enjoying is often transformed.

Their confidence, self-esteem and reading standards improve.

The Get Ahead project, which is funded by the South East London Community Foundation (SELF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Greenwich Neighbourhood Renewal, aims to help reduce unemployment within the borough of Greenwich.

VRH has been successful in its grant application to work with the local community to help local residents who are unemployed in the Eynsham, St Mary's, Glyndon and Arsenal wards to gain employment.

These wards are seen as some of the most deprived in the borough of Greenwich.

VRH will help the local community by:

  • Training people who are unemployed to develop skills and gain experience to help them gain employment
  • Advice and guidance to access services for jobs
  • The overall wellbeing of an individual both physically and psychologically

If local people in these wards would like to find a career in education, this is a fantastic taster of what life could be like working in your local primary school, it will give you that added advantage to gain new skills and experience.

Contact Michael at Volunteer Reading Help on 020 7730 2429.