On Tuesday 17 June, we were excited to host our annual Partner, Volunteer and School Recognition Awards in London. During this special evening, we celebrated the remarkable achievements of our community—recognising the dedication of our volunteers, the support of our partners, and the collaboration with our schools that makes it possible for us to provide children with 1:1 reading support at the time they need it most.

We are enormously grateful to our Gold Partner CMS for generously hosting this celebration and enabling those unable to attend in person to join us virtually for the presentations.

Chapter One's CEO, Emma Bell said: "What strikes me most about all our award winners and those we celebrated is their unwavering belief that every child deserves to succeed. Whether they're volunteering their time, supporting us as corporate partners, or welcoming our programme into their schools, they're all united in making a real difference to children's futures. It was wonderful to celebrate their achievements together!"

The Cisco team

Outstanding Volunteer Award 2024-25 (reading with one child)

Winner: Gemma Parsons, Taylor & Francis - Gemma, who is in her second year of volunteering with us as part of the team from our Gold Partner Taylor and Francis, had done 21.5 hours of reading with her pupil Keaveh (over 40 sessions!).

Shortlisted (in order of reading hours):

• Ian Beattie, Vanquis Banking Group

• Becky Pickering, Vanquis Banking Group

• Trudi Woodier, Vanquis Banking Group

• David Hosken, Sir Robert McAlpine Capital Ventures

Outstanding Volunteer Award 2024-25 (supporting more than one child)

Winner: Ève Munon - Eve, who is in her fourth year of volunteering with us, has read with three children this year, completing a fantastic 31.3 hours!

Shortlisted (in order of reading hours):

• Tom Milner, Hachette UK

• Lisa Baker, Sir Robert McAlpine Capital Ventures

• Stephanie Mayo, Deloitte

• Rimi Hussain, Taylor & Francis

Ève Munon accepting her award

Reading Commitment Award 2024-25

This award celebrates the corporate partner team that provided the highest number of average sessions per volunteer

Current partner:

Winner: CACI - averaged 27 sessions per volunteer

Shortlisted (in order of number of average sessions per volunteer)

• Tribal Group

• NG Bailey

• Janus Henderson Investors

• Sir Robert McAlpine

New partner:

Winner: L&G - averaged 26 sessions per volunteer

Shortlisted (in order of number of average sessions per volunteer):

• RTC

• Arnold & Porter

• Infosys

• Scottish Qualifications Authority

Volunteer Growth Award 2024-25

This award celebrates the partner with the highest increase in volunteer numbers since last year

Current partner:

Winner: Amentum - Amentum extended their support for children’s reading by moving from being a Gold to a Platinum partner this year, increased their commitment by 40 volunteers and now have the largest number of volunteers supporting children in Cumbria

Shortlisted (in order of highest % increase in volunteer numbers since last year):

• AtkinsRéalis

• Clyde & Co

• Hogan Lovells

• Kennedys

New partner:

Winner: Eversheds Sutherland - Eversheds Sutherland went from 0 to 53 volunteers in a matter of weeks!

Shortlisted (in order of highest % increase in volunteer numbers since last year):

• Mott MacDonald UK

• Emerald Publishing

• Irwin Mitchell

• Wincanton

Luke Richardson and Shaun France from Amentum, with Emma Bell, Chapter One CEO, Anna Ansted, Head of Corporate Partnerships and Sarah Taylor, Business Development Manager

Outstanding Teacher Award 2024-25

Winner: James Puntis, St Mary and St Pancras Church of England Primary School, London

Shortlisted:

• Gemma Payne, St Joseph and St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Doncaster

• James Vickery, Wellington Primary School, London

• Angela Williams, Welford Primary School, Birmingham

• Beth Kobrus, St Gregory & St Patrick's Catholic Infant School, Cumbria

James Puntis from St Mary and St Pancras Church of England Primary School, London

Outstanding School Award 2024-25

Winner: Five Ashes Church of England Primary School, East Sussex - 98% of sessions rated as successful!

Shortlisted (in order of call % success rate for school):

• Oakwood Primary Academy, East Sussex

• Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Primary School, Doncaster

• Newport Primary School, Middlesbrough

• Broughton Moor Primary School, West Cumbria

Above and Beyond Award 2024-25

Winner: Heidelberg Materials UK - ran an internal story-writing competition and supported an author visit to a Peterborough school (with copies of the book printed for all the children), printed a further 10,000 copies of the book for young children across the country, planned a quarry visit for the children in Peterborough to see the story come to life, secured funding for us to purchase 175 noise-cancelling headsets - and engaged their supply chain as volunteers.

Shortlisted:

• Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation - organised a company-wide book drive (resulting in 2,250 books being delivered to Chapter One schools), supported an author visit to Thornhill Primary School in Islington, London, and invested significantly in helping us pilot a new book club model in four schools in London and Peterborough

• FactSet - hosted a field trip to a corporate office, ran an internal, global story-writing competition, bringing to life two wonderful new stories for the Chapter One platform, one of which they’ve printed and gifted to all the children at Prior Western Primary School in Islington, and made a substantial donation to help us with our core costs and developing our corporate partnerships team

• Emerald Publishing - Vicky Williams (CEO) and her team have mobilised the local business community in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to step up

• Equinix - a substantial donation to allow us to replace outdated laptops in over 30 classrooms

Jops Hill from Heidelberg Materials UK

Special Recognition Award 2024-25

Winner: Cisco - the Cisco Foundation has awarded us a Regional Solutions Grant of $75k to invest in the Chapter One volunteer platform

Chapter One Champion Award 2024-25

Winner: David McTeague, Hachette UK - David has supported a child called Ralphie this year. Ralphie finds school hard. When reading began, he was on a part-time timetable and was disengaged. He now looks forward to his weekly session with David so much that it has changed his whole view of school. The teacher of the class has called David ‘life-changing’ with his exceptional kindness and patience. They believe that the experience of working with ‘Mr’ as Ralphie calls him, will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Shortlisted:

• Victoria Eames, Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation - for her transformative impact on Harry, the child she has read to this year. In the words of his parent, "We have gone from having a child who would cry if I asked him to read me some pages, to a child who enjoys selecting a book and reading it to me and his brother”. Victoria is also an author - so as well as her sessions with Harry online, she’s visited his school and been able to read to him and his class the story that she created! Victoria then donated 130 copies of her book’ Today I am a Pirate’ to Chapter One schools

• Shaun France, Amentum - Shaun has read with three children this year, one of whom was a reluctant reader whose attitude has really turned around thanks to his patient persistence

• Karen Brookes, Sir Robert McAlpine - who’s in her second year of reading, and has read with two children this year, one who has significant behaviour problems which Karen has managed brilliantly

• Paul Burns, NG Bailey - for his patient support of Mia

During the Awards, we launched our Summer Appeal - Gift the joy of reading so children can thrive. As we celebrate another year of reading breakthroughs and prepare for the new school year, we'd like to raise £5,000 to help reach even more children who need us most. Funds will support the provision of essential IT equipment for reading sessions and special end-of-year activity books to help children reflect on their reading journey.