Assisting Berkshire Children to read (ABC to read) recruits, trains, and supports community volunteers to provide one-to-one mentoring of primary school children (ages 5 to 11) throughout Berkshire who are struggling to read. Originally party of a group called Volunteer Reading Help founded in 1973 by the late Susan Belgrave, ABC to read became a charity of it’s own in 2004 and has helped thousands of children to build their reading ability, confidence and love of reading enabling them to thrive into further education and adulthood.

ABC to read specifically assist children not entitled to individual help through statutory funding, with a focus on children from disadvantaged backgrounds and schools in deprived areas

Our impact report highlights the impact of our work on children’s lives, with 97% of partner schools reporting that their children have an improved attitude to learning as a result of receiving support, while 96% observe improved communication skills and improved overall wellbeing and 100% of children improved their reading levels.

This support has proven even more vital in recent years, with many children struggling with learning and anxiety following disruption and isolation during the pandemic and in our 20th year we would like to support many more children to meet the demand of our service but can only do this with funding and new volunteers coming to us to train.

Through our work we have been credited with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, a local governance kitemark and have recently gained the Investor in Volunteer Award to ensure that our volunteers have a positive experience with ABC to read and to gain the interest of new volunteers along with Pride Of Reading and various local recognition awards.