News Items
08 June 2011: For immediate release
Community Volunteer Reading Mentors for Bideford Area Schools
An initiative by North Devon based literacy charity BookRelief UK will give parents, school governors and other community members the opportunity to undertake a one-day accredited training course at The Keystone Centre, Gammaton Road, East the Water, Bideford, on either Wednesday 6th or Thursday 7th July - as the same course for up to 15 participants will be run on two consecutive days. The training will allow them to provide effective and timely one-to-one support to encourage struggling readers in local schools – at no cost to the volunteers thanks to funding from the Big Lottery’s Awards for All programme, the Bideford Bridge Trust and the Bideford Learning Community.
Once trained, each Community Volunteer Reading Mentor will be expected to deliver one-to-one mentoring sessions twice each week during term time at a chosen school within the Bideford Learning Community area. Each session will consist of two half-hour mentoring periods with two different pupils who will have been selected by the school as being most likely to benefit from this programme. These pupils will each receive individual attention over a ten-week/one-term period and the process will be repeated each term with two different pupils receiving the same individual attention. The timetable for this will be worked out between the school involved and the individual volunteer.
While the participating schools appreciate that due to other commitments it will not always be possible for each Community Volunteer Reading Mentor to regularly deliver one-to-one mentoring through an entire ten-week/one-term period, continuity over a 10-week/one term period is essential if the programme is to have the desired outcome for each participating pupil: so volunteer mentors, under these circumstances, should simply ‘take a break’ for an entire term and return to the programme the following term.
Delivered by Bradford based charity and social enterprise Reading Matters (www.readingmatters.org.uk) , the Community Volunteer Reading Mentors training is accredited through the National Open College Network and includes identification of reading difficulties, how to work one-to-one effectively, how to chose appropriate reading resources, how to carry out a simple reading age test, understanding the negative impact of poor reading skills on self confidence and self esteem, an insight into the Literacy Curriculum and an understanding of safeguarding children procedures.
An independent evaluation report by Leeds Metropolitan University indicates that pupils experience an average gain in reading age of 15 months, in terms of word recognition and of 10 months with regard to reading comprehension after just 10 weeks with a Reading Matters volunteer. Pupils also improve significantly in terms of reading performance, attitude to reading, confidence in the classroom, self esteem, motivation and speech and language.
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World Book Night Success at Appledore Library !
11 March, 2011
Our good friend Nick Arnold, who directs the Appledore Book Festival, chairs the Friends of Appledore Library, and in his spare times writes the 'Horrible Science' series of children's books, kindly sent us the above photo of a packed Appledore Library taken on the evening of Saturday March 5th, along with a copy of the email he sent to the head of Devon Library Services, which reads - 'I thought you would be as delighted as I was to hear about the successful World Book Night event at Appledore Library. The event attracted well in excess of 180 people and in all 120 free books were given away. I must say I have never heard of a comparable sized library anywhere attracting crowds like this. At times during the two hour event the library was so packed that people simply could not get in the door.
The event, organised by BookReliefUK and Christine Hannington our librarian, builds on an extremely successful series of winter talks organised by Friends of Appledore Library all of which have been sold-outs so far.'
Charitable Status Granted
9th March, 2010
We are very pleased to have been advised by the Charity Commission for England & Wales that we have been granted formal charitable status - with Charity Registration Number 1134724. We are further advised that the details of our registration should be posted on the Charity Commission website at www.charity-commission.gov.uk within the next few days.
Signing up with Everyclick
November 2009
As another way of raising funds, we are now working with Everyclick, an internet search engine providing full search results (similar to Google) but which donates 50% of its revenue to charity. It costs nothing to use, and can be made your homepage or a favourite - or you can add an Everyclick searchbar. You will have to register with Everyclick as a supporter of BookRelief UK but can keep your identity hidden if you wish.
As a move topwards Corporate Social Responsibility, many companies, including The london Stock Exchange, AXA Life and Cadbury Schweppes are adopting the Everyclick search engine as part of their CSR programme as it allows people to raise money for charities while they are working.
Everyclick can also be used if you wish to make a donation to BookRelief UK using your credit card.
Charitable Status for BookRelief UK - Update
November 2009
Having raised the necessary amount of funding (£5000 within a 12-month period) required by the Charities Act of 2006 before charitable status can be considered, BookRelief UK has now submitted a formal application for charitable status to the Charity Commission. We are informed by the Charity Commission that our application has been accepted, but due to a backlog of applications it may be some time yet before a charity registration number is issued.
Michael Morpurgo Accepts Request to Become BookRelief UK's Patron
September 2009
Thanks to an introduction made through the 2009 Appledore Book Festival - we are delighted to advise that Michael Morpurgo has accepted a request to become Patron of BookRelief UK.Michael is best known as the author of a great many children's books - and for his dedication to many charities with an emphasis on literacy and the well being of children. Together with his wife, Claire, he also established the charity Farms for City Children.
Michael was Children's Laureate between 2003-2005 and Booksellers Association Author of the Year in 2005. His writing has won various prizes including the Whitbread Prize for The Wreck of the Zanzibar. He was awarded an MBE in 1999 and an OBE in 2006, and was made a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French in 2004. He has also been awarded several honorary degrees. More can be fond about Michael and his writing at www.michaelmorpurgo.org