Reading Buddy Programme

We work with corporate partners, TY groups, and community volunteers to deliver one-to-one reading support for children aged 8–12

Reading Buddy Programme

We work with corporate partners, TY groups, and community volunteers to deliver one-to-one reading support for children aged 8–12

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One in ten children in Irish schools have serious difficulties with literacy. In some disadvantaged schools, this is as high as almost one in three. This has a long lasting impact on children’s lives.

We work with corporate partners to provide on-to-one volunteer-based support to children aged 8-12 years:

Online

Reading sessions take place over video call. Both the child and volunteer have a copy of the same book.

In-person

Volunteers visit the school and read with their Reading Buddy face-to-face.

For TY Coordinators

If you are a TY coordinator or school staff member interested in running the Léigh Liom Reading Buddy Programme with your Transition Year students, we’d love to hear from you.

We’ll support you with training, resources, and matching with a local primary school.

TY students take part by reading one-to-one with a primary school child — either online or in person — helping to build literacy skills and confidence.

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For Primary Schools

If you are a primary school teacher, principal, or part of school leadership and would like to bring the Reading Buddy Programme to your students, please get in touch.

We’ll work with you to coordinate timelines, provide all materials, and link you with trained volunteers (either TY students or other community members) to support pupils aged 8–12 with reading.

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Programme Duration

8 weeks

Time Commitment
2x 30 minute
sessions per week

School staff and Volunteer training
45-60 mins

All Volunteers are Garda Vetted

For Volunteers

We welcome volunteers from both the general public and our network of corporate partners across Ireland.
Reading Buddy offers a rewarding opportunity to support a young child’s literacy journey by reading together one-to-one for just 60 minutes a week over 8 weeks – either in-person or online.

Whether you’re an individual looking to give back or an organisation interested in employee volunteering, we’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch to discuss how to get started, including application and Garda Vetting, training, scheduling, and any other questions you may have.

“It was great to see his confidence build from the first session where he was so much quieter and even speaking to me was nervous, to our last couple of sessions where he was so confident and like it is nice to see that when you give someone a bit of time and encouragement their confidence does build.”

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Read our 2024 Impact Report

Reading Buddy Sessions

The 30 minutes sessions are a space for the student to read aloud to their Reading Buddy, who helps them through difficult words or sentences, while encouraging and praising them for their reading.

They discuss what’s happening in the book, the student’s favourite parts and what they think will happen next.

This all helps to build a positive relationship, and it develops the student’s comprehension skills and increases their confidence in their own ability.

“It was like my dad helped me at like reading a story at night, so that’s what it was like having that. It was like having somebody read beside you in the real world”