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28th July 2023Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund
7th August 2023Read Easy Provides Life-changing Support to Adults Who Want To Learn To Read
Reading a Newsletter like this seems to be the most natural thing in the world, but for a substantial minority it’s an ordeal, a challenge that has never been conquered.
National Research findings suggest that a quarter of all children leave Primary school unable to read to the expected level. This often continues into later life and 1 in 6 Adults, more than 8 million in the UK, have poor literacy skills, and half of all prisoners either can’t read or struggle to do so.
Read Easy UK has come to national prominence most recently following the Jay Blades Documentary “Learning to Read at 51” (Jan 2022 BBC iPlayer). The host of the popular Repair Shop opened up about how he hid his inability to read and why he had now taken the steps to acquire this skill. Here in Hull, we’ve had a Reader, Graham, appear on Look North with his Coach Geoff and there was a follow up story in the Hull Daily Mail, headlined “Graham Learns to Read at 69.”
This was great publicity for us, but given that based on 1 in 6 Adults needing help with reading, there are over 55,000 non-readers in Hull, it seems that our 12 pairs of Readers and Coaches are just a drop in the ocean and we want to help many more people.
We provide Life-changing support to adults who want to learn to read. We do this by offering Free, Confidential 1 to 1 coaching in two 30 minute sessions a week. Those who request help from us are assessed to see if we can help them, some who apply read too well and we guide to other services. Those we can help we pair with a coach and they meet at a mutually convenient venue somewhere like a local library. The coaching uses a phonics-based system, building a solid foundation of reading knowledge. A layered approach and review of knowledge acquired ensures that the Reader is assured of his or her progress. It is almost impossible to describe how life-changing these skills are; it has been compared to an organ donation.
As a Charity we are always looking for Readers to help, people to train as Coaches, venues for our Coaching sessions and of course donations are always welcome.
Our Coaches volunteer their time and come from a variety of backgrounds, not just education. Full Training is provided for Coaches, whatever their background. Although most training is face to face, we are pioneering a new online coaching package. We see this as very useful for those who have Zero hour contracts or who are in employment but want to improve their reading, without jeopardising their jobs.
If you like more information about Read Easy please contact
Geoff Bell
Referrals Networker
07535618430
hdnetworker@readeasy.org.uk