Every child deserves the literacy skills they need to thrive. That's why we're delighted to have received support from The William Wates Memorial Trust since 2023, with a £60,000 grant to provide life-changing one-to-one online reading support to children facing disadvantage in the London borough of Camden over three years.

The William Wates Memorial Trust is a grants registered charity with a mission to help the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence, and fulfil their potential. This is mainly achieved by supporting charities that engage young people through sport, the arts and education. The Trust primarily supports projects in London and the South East.

Support from trusts and foundations is crucial in helping us to continue developing our programme, with The William Wates Memorial Trust helping us to scale our work to meet local need in Camden.

Chapter One currently partners with seven schools in Camden, where in 2024-25, 173 children were supported by 171 online reading volunteers. In an area where 12 children in an average classroom of 30 are growing up in poverty (41.8%), the need for our work is greater than ever. All the schools have higher than average numbers of pupils in receipt of free school meals (25.9%), with the average free school meal eligibility in our Camden partner schools at 55.9%, and many have high numbers of children with English as an Additional Language (up to 87.6%). In Camden overall, 23% of disadvantaged children still do not reach the expected levels in reading by 11 (compared to 13% of their wealthier peers) and this figure masks significant disparities between schools (Camden’s Education Strategy to 2030; Building Back Stronger). This can throw their whole life off track, and make it impossible to reach their full potential.

Emma Bell, CEO of Chapter One, said: “The William Wates Memorial Trust's support is helping us deliver on our mission to close the reading gap by providing children with one-to-one support at the time they need it the most. We can now reach more young readers in Camden at exactly the right time - early in their school journey when our intervention has the greatest impact. Thank you to the Trust for sharing our belief that every child deserves the chance to develop a love of reading and the confidence that comes with it.”