Jessica Williams is a Managing Associate 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 Jessica to find out more about her experience of being a Chapter One online reading volunteer.

What motivated you to begin volunteer reading with Chapter One?
Mishcon de Reya supports lots of wonderful charities, but the half an hour a week commitment with Chapter One really stood out to me. It’s eminently achievable - no matter my caseload, I've got half an hour each week to give.

I also have a six-year-old myself who's in Year 2, so I completely understand the importance of reading regularly with a child. I also understand that if you're struggling to read and you've got a busy house at home, trying to find time to sit down in a quiet space and just absolutely focus on reading can be really difficult. So I felt like I could make a difference – I knew I could give a child half an hour of my life every week during term time to focus on them and to let them know that I was there just to read with them.

How have you found volunteering with Chapter One this year?
It's been lovely. I think it's nice that Chapter One is so targeted and so specific, and the parameters of the offering are very clear. The volunteer training was useful, and the safeguarding training was also really good.

I certainly get a feeling of goodwill and happiness from reading with Zahra. I come off the phone and I think “she's tried really hard this week” and I know she's tried hard because she enjoys reading with me and she likes her time with me. I don't know how she performs in other aspects of her school life, but I know that for the half an hour she speaks to me, she always seems to try really hard. She really seems to want to do well, which is just lovely.

I have also learnt so much from her too. In January, I said to her: “Did you have a nice Christmas?” and she replied, “I don’t celebrate Christmas.” And that moment stood out for me, because I realised I had misstepped and that I didn't know that much about her personal life - I just knew her name and the school she goes to. Later, instead of asking her about Easter, I just said, “How was your break?” and then she told me about how she celebrated Diwali. She told me that she gets a gift on Diwali and how she was really excited because she thought she was going to get some new colouring books. That was definitely a learning moment for me and now I know for future to be more careful with my questions!

How has your pupil progressed with their reading this year?
She has absolutely blown my mind with how far she's come. When we first started reading, she was spelling out almost every word. Now, she’s reading books fluently to me, and has moved up a reading level.

I think it's so easy to underestimate just what children can achieve, if they put their mind to it. It's like a switch has been flicked and suddenly she's like, “Oh, I can read.”

Zahra is definitely more confident with me in general, too. Sometimes she’s chatty and sometimes she’s not, so I tend to let her lead the conversation, but compared to how she was at the beginning of the year, she’s come so far. At the start I could be asking her questions about things on the page – she was polite and engaged, but not chatty. Now some days she just wants to chat (and we have to remind ourselves to stay on topic!).

How else has the Chapter One Online Reading Volunteers Programme benefited your pupil?
I’ve realised how much the sessions mean to Zahra. One week I was a minute or two late calling, and by the time I got through she’d gone out of the class to do something else so we couldn’t have our session. Then the next week she said to me, “You didn’t ring me last week. My name was on the board, but you didn’t ring me.” I explained what had happened, but it just made me think about how special the weekly sessions are to the children, and how much a part of their routine they are.

The impact you can make in just half an hour a week on a child’s confidence as well as their reading is actually more than you might think. To an adult, half an hour isn't very much, but for the child, it can have such an impact. Zahra really highlights that for me, for example that time when she thought I hadn’t called. I'm reminded of this in my personal life too - my son came out of his 30 minute weekly swim class the other week saying, “She called me brilliant twice and she said I was the champion swimmer today!” - he was so pleased with himself. It occurred to me then that, actually, it's the same with Zahra. I remember all the positive things I can say in half an hour of one-to-one reading “Zahra, you've tried really hard today", "I've really noticed how hard you've been trying", "You've been brilliant and I love your effort”. I hope that maybe she's taking those compliments away with her and it is feeding her love for reading!

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.