Call for business volunteers to take part in literacy initiative ‘Time to Read’

Responsible business organisation, Business in the Community (BITC) Northern Ireland is calling on volunteers from local businesses to take part in their literacy initiative, ‘Time to Read’ to help improve the literacy of primary school children.

Since 2010, team members from digital learning organisation, Aurion Learning have been keen advocates of BITC’s literacy initiative and have been donating one hour of their working week to read with Key Stage Two children in local primary schools.

The call for business volunteers supports research released recently in the Child Development Journal [Thursday 24 July] showing that children who can read well by the age of seven are more intelligent in later years.

The study, carried out by scientists at Edinburgh and King’s College London who tracked 1,890 pairs of identical twins over nine years, shows that ‘youngsters who have a good reading ability at primary school perform better in their teens in IQ tests for abstract thinking, general cognition and pattern finding, according to a new study.’ Reading really works and it has impacts far beyond simple literacy.

Business in the Community Director of Community Programmes, Claire Gordon explains:

“We’re encouraging as many business people to get involved in Time to Read for the 2014/’15 school year. They really can make a difference. Time to Read is offered within school time in a group environment where local business people volunteer to read on a one-to-one basis with children, supporting their reading progress and giving them an insight into the world of work. We provide full training and Access NI screening. It’s not scary, just great fun and it’s a lovely link between the workforce of today and the employees of tomorrow.”

Backing the call for business volunteers, Director at Aurion Learning, Ciaran O’Hare commented:

“Time to Read reflects our strong commitment to give back to the community. Our volunteering team members have found the literacy initiative very rewarding and I’d encourage local businesses to get behind and take part in this worthwhile initiative.”

For more information, visit www.aurionlearning.com or follow @aurionlearning on Twitter.

Last updated 9 years 7 months ago