Lesley Gray is the Innovation and Technology Director at Amentum, a Chapter One Platinum Partner. Lesley signed up to be an online reading volunteer with us for the first time at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. We caught up with her to find out how she was getting on.

What led you to sign up to Chapter One?
Recognising that when my own kids were young, they had a lot of access to books and reading stories together with me, and as a result still love books and enjoy reading. Not all children get this opportunity, which is important for language development and building confidence and so I wanted to help provide access to any reading support where I could.

As a director in your organisation, what do you see involvement in Chapter One giving your teams and colleagues?
It’s a way of easily engaging within our client communities on a wider scale beyond the delivery of a technical project and can have lasting impacts for all involved. It gives a sense of helping to support and sustain the workforce of the future. Since being relatively new to Chapter One, I’ve not yet shared a lot of discussion about my participation with other team members, except mentioning it’s something worth getting involved in. It's something I am definitely aiming to promote more though. I’m in contact with one or two others support readers in the company and it’s nice to share our experiences.

Could you tell us more about your personal experience with Chapter One?
I’ve learned how important it is just to listen to how engaged the pupil sounds throughout the session. Not stick too rigidly to any routine. While we always follow a basic structure to cover a variety, I let them choose the tasks or the order of the reading/games we do, so that they feel more in control of the activities. It’s important to encourage and praise often.

It’s particularly rewarding when the pupil gets excited about a word or sound they remembered from a previous lesson and have then successfully identified again. It’s nice to hear them realise they’ve learned something and it’s stuck with them. They’re proud of themselves.

What would you say to someone who asked you how you find the time to do online volunteering?
It’s easy to adjust around your diary commitments provided you book in your sessions well in advance. I think the consistency of same time each week probably helps the pupil too. The platform is easy to use and provided you do a bit of orientation on it prior to starting the lessons it’s self-explanatory. It’s an easy way to do volunteering when you’re unable to take a lot of time outside of work/personal commitments. It’s also very rewarding and during a busy week it can be lovely to take the time out and just hear about what the pupil has been doing and have some fun chatting and reading together.

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.