Coram Beanstalk is proud to be a lead delivery partner for The National Year of Reading 2026!

Working with schools  ›  Primary school information

Primary school information

How to help our service run smoothly

Whether you have had our reading helpers in school for years or are new to our service, it’s well worth having a good look through the information shared here. You’ll find downloads to share what we do with the school team and ways to best support your reading helpers… in our experience, the more valued volunteers feel, the longer they stay!

Helpful resources

Here you will find powerpoints, posters, information leaflets, films and more to help you choose children, introduce our approach to class teachers and parents and impact data and reports to share with SLT.

Liaising with volunteers

Volunteers carry out a professional role in school as a reading helper, however, they do give their time freely and are under no contractual obligation. Here you can find our top tips to ensure they can effectively carry out their role and become a valuable part of your school team.

What do we do?

If you’ve got reading helpers in school, or have one about to start, here’s where you can find out about what they are trained to do, the content and timings of sessions and the books they will be using.

Share our volunteering opportunity

We need your help to reach potential volunteers. Here we explain why, and you can find everything you need to make this as simple as possible.

Safeguarding

Coram Beanstalk is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and requires all staff, volunteers and partners to share this commitment. You can find our safeguarding contact number and policy here.

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