Chapter One – Online Reading Volunteers

Resource type: Reading mentors

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS1

Region(s): England - Greater London, England - East, England - South East, England - North West, England - Yorkshire and the Humber, Scotland.

Chapter One runs an online reading volunteer programme that pairs corporate volunteers from all over the UK with children in KS1 who need reading practice and are currently not on track to meet the expected standard in reading.

Chapter One is currently available to primary schools that have a higher than national average pupil premium percentage in Birmingham, Bradford, Doncaster, East Sussex, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Middlesborough, Peterborough, Warrington and West Cumbria.

Volunteers link directly from their workplace to a dedicated classroom laptop using a bespoke internet platform and a voice connection. Volunteers and their reading partners ‘meet’ for 30-minutes every week through the academic year to read decodable stories and play literacy-related games that improve fluency and comprehension and build reading confidence.

All volunteers are subject to an Enhanced DBS check and undergo online training that covers

Safeguarding.
How children learn to read.
How to listen and communicate in a positive and encouraging way.
How to engage reluctant readers.

The Chapter One programme can be used to support up to 10 pupils per participating class. Chapter One provides a dedicated and secure laptop and headset for pupils to use that can be set up easily in a corner of the classroom. The platform provides a library of more than 200 stories, all fully decodable, alongside word and literacy games to reinforce key skills in an engaging way.

Cost: Free in the first year, £250 per class per year thereafter. All equipment provided.

About Chapter One: Chapter One is a UK literacy charity that provides one-to-one reading support to children facing disadvantage at the time they need it most. Chapter One offers tailored support for the entire primary reading journey and currently supports nearly 3500 children in 12 areas across the UK through its three programmes.

Literacy Hive Likes:

Watch this introductory video to find out more about how the programme works and the benefits to your school.
Teachers create an online timetable of suitable times for volunteers to choose from and the platform also includes a messaging function that allows teachers and volunteers to communicate and share relevant information.
The programme offers volunteers the flexibility of being able to volunteer from their desk, broadening the range of people who can offer schools their time.
Pupils can access the platform independently while the teacher works with the rest of the class and there is no need for access to outside space as pupils can work with their volunteer inside the classroom.
Teachers report an increase in engagement and an improvement in attitudes to learning across the curriculum among participating pupils.
A 2024-25 Impact Report found that 96% of children participating in the programme developed more positive reading attitudes and behaviours, and 96% of teachers believed that the programme was beneficial to their pupils.
Participating schools can also apply to be part of Chapter One’s free Book Club Programme for reluctant readers in Years 4 and 5. The programme provides curated book boxes and trained reading facilitators who run weekly sessions where young readers are allowed to choose books that match their interests and talk about them in a relaxed and informal setting. The programme is designed to promote reading enjoyment and a positive reader identity and has been positively evaluated by the Open University’s Reading for Pleasure unit.