Partner Schemes

Each primary school is paired with a company which recruits a group of volunteers to visit the school each week for 30-minute lunch time sessions.

Volunteers are partnered with particular pupils to support them with their reading or maths and encouraged to have conversations around the books they read or maths games they play to develop rapport and build confidence.

We ask volunteers to commit to one full term (approximately 10 weeks) but most volunteers choose to stay for the whole academic year.

Students are selected by their teachers because they may lack confidence in their own abilities, require motivation, or would benefit from one to one support from an interested adult.

Writing Partners pairs trained volunteers, who work in The City or Canary Wharf, with pupils aged 8-11 in Tower Hamlets schools.

Each volunteer writes 4-6 letters to their pupil, and the pupil writes 4-6 replies.

Volunteers will receive letters from the same child on scheduled days, for about three months. Volunteers will type replies before a set deadline via an online form, which will not take more than 30 minutes.

All letters will be emailed via a Safeguarding Moderator, so no contact details are exchanged with pupils and there is no contact after the programme ends.

This a fully remote volunteering opportunity and volunteers do not visit the school in-person.

No previous experience with children or volunteering experience is necessary and you don’t need English as your first language.

There is no expectation to mark or correct the the pupils’ writing; a volunteer’s role is to just to give them an exciting opportunity to read and write!

We provide training sessions for new volunteers which includes information on the background and practicalities of the scheme, as well guidance on strategies to use during Reading, Writing and Number Partner sessions and an opportunity to ask any questions.

This training is arranged through the company co-ordinator and takes place at the company offices.

The training sessions are online, around 45-minutes long and also cover good practice and child safeguarding guidance. All new volunteers are required to undertake training before starting their volunteering.

Some of the benefits of our Partner Schemes:

For Students:

• Provides one to one reading and maths support
• Develops communication skills
• Offers a positive role model and insight into the world of work

For Volunteers:

• Opportunity to do something positive and worthwhile during lunchtime
• Contributes to the lives of young people
• Experience of working with young people

For Employers:

• Raises motivation and morale amongst employees
• Opportunity to gain teamwork experience
• Improves time management and communication skills

We welcome teams of volunteers (a minimum of 6 people) from companies.

Volunteers will need to commit to one full term (approximately 10 weeks).

Most volunteers choose to stay for the whole academic year. Training is provided.

Do get in touch to discuss this further by contacting our Primary Schools Team.