Gareth Minty is a Partner at our Silver Partner Mishcon De Reya, whose 30 volunteers provided 225 hours of one-to-one reading support to Chapter One children during the 2023-24 school year. We caught up with Gareth to find out more about his experience of being a Chapter One online reading volunteer.

What motivated you to begin volunteer reading with Chapter One?
I have two children, who both really enjoy reading, and I read with them a lot. I can see what a difference reading has made to them, for example with their vocabulary and imagination, so I wanted to help someone else with that.

I also recognise that not everyone is fortunate enough to be in an environment where they will have access to all the books that they might want, or have someone who has time to sit down with them to read, and I think it’s important to give up some of my time and contribute to helping others. Mishcon de Reya promotes a number of different pro bono and social impact initiatives, and Chapter One felt like a really good fit.

I’m actually reading with two pupils - I started with one, then signed up to read with another.

What are the benefits of being a Chapter One volunteer?
Personally, I'm just pleased that I'm able to do something to help. If I’d been a Chapter One volunteer a few years ago, it would have given me an insight into the phonics and materials my own children would be exposed to in school, so it’s definitely good for staying on top of the curriculum and teaching materials.

Whilst I can't now apply the insight directly at home as my children are a bit older, I have encouraged one of my colleagues who's got a young boy and is expecting her second to get involved. It helps you to understand what the kids are going to be going through over the next few years and the word sounds that they'll be seeing, the style of the materials and the sort of games that they might be using as a mechanism for teaching. You just learn so much about how the children get to grips with reading.

And from a professional point of view, Mishcon de Reya also recognises our work in this area. We’re given time to dedicate to pro bono and social impact initiatives that go towards our performance, so there’s a nice sort of incentive. You don't feel like you have to make a trade off with your annual targets, you can still get involved.

How have you found the support from Chapter One?
The platform is really easy. Funnily though, the training did terrify me a little because, as with a lot of training, until you actually get on and do it, you never really know what it’s going to be like.

But the reading platform is very easy to navigate around and very easy to use. The support whenever I've needed it has been brilliant from a technical perspective.

Can you tell us more about your pupils?
At the beginning of the year, my first pupil was more generally further ahead in terms of their development than the second pupil that I had. So we quite quickly moved him up to the next level.

My second pupil was a bit unsure about the whole process to start with. And that makes sense, when you think they’re given a pair of headphones and told to read with someone that they’ve never met. But once they got over that, they completely embraced it and ran with it! We’ve progressed well and I can definitely see a difference from when we started.

They've both been great fun - they’re good little characters. My first pupil, he loves Mystery Word, he particularly enjoys trying to work out what the missing letter is or what the missing sound is. My second pupil likes the flashcards and Three In a Row, the games where you recognise the words rather than trying to guess.

What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a Chapter One volunteer?
Don’t be put off by the fact it’s over the phone - it’s actually a huge advantage if you’re nervous or perhaps haven’t spent much time around children. You don't have to worry about engaging them face-to-face - you can just focus on the phone call and what's on the screen, which I think is a huge help.

How can companies get involved in Chapter One?

Chapter One’s virtual, time-efficient, flexible model for volunteering will enhance your company’s employee value proposition, whilst fulfilling CSR or social value commitments around education, social mobility and inclusion. Employees can:

- volunteer online directly from their desks with no travel

- make a direct impact on the lives of children from disadvantaged communities

- support local communities across the UK

- improve their own well-being by helping others

- reconnect with your company’s social purpose

If you’re interested in joining us, we’d love to hear from you! You’ll find out who we currently work with on our partners’ page. You can contact us here or email sarah.taylor@chapterone.org.