One in every five boys and one in every 10 girls leaves primary school unable to read. Pilotlight Partner Reading Quest is a charity which aims to give every child an equal chance to read, think, write and enjoy learning. They focus on working with children, many of whom live in conditions of considerable social disadvantage, such as those in care, those for whom English is an additional language and those living in poverty.
One in every five boys and one in every 10 girls leaves primary school unable to read. Pilotlight Partner Reading Quest is a charity which aims to give every child an equal chance to read, think, write and enjoy learning. They focus on working with children, many of whom live in conditions of considerable social disadvantage, such as those in care, those for whom English is an additional language and those living in poverty.
In the 15 years since it was set up, the charity has helped over 3,500 children in nearly 100 schools in Oxfordshire. As well as working with children in their schools, Reading Quest also involves parents and carers in their children’s learning and trains others to teach the programme.
One of the children helped by Reading Quest is Tomas. Tomas moved to the UK from Poland was having difficulty learning English in primary school, which was very frustrating for his family and for him. When Tomas was seven, he was chosen to take part in Reading Quest's programme, with support by his family in 36 lessons over a 15-week period. When he started the programme, he was only able to read and spell about eight words, but by the end of the course Tomas was able to pick up books for his age group and read confidently. His parents say Tomas "now feels he can achieve and do the things he sees others doing. It was a wonderful experience and Reading Quest helped us as a family to help with Tomas’s reading."
When Reading Quest approached Pilotlight for help, it was working only in Oxfordshire, and founder Penny Tyack was looking to launch the scheme across the UK. Penny wanted Pilotlight’s help to articulate Reading Quest’s current operations, consolidate its financial base and map out a strategy for growth and replication, areas outside her previous experience as a teacher.
A Pilotlight team was put together and worked with Reading Quest for 18 months helping Penny address two main issues: succession for her move away from the leadership role so that she could focus on training and development, and writing a strategic plan which included elements of financial management and fundraising.
For Penny, the most valuable results of the Pilotlight work were identifying where the charity stood and getting someone to direct it. The organisation also gained the confidence to promote itself, which they feel is as important as the skills they’ve learnt in planning, financial management, recruitment and marketing. Penny says of the process:
“You can spend a lot of money on management training and come out of it not really knowing how to do it. Pilotlight was management training at its best, very practical, very focused and very helpful.”
New Director Alistair Lomax adds: “I knew the good reputation of Pilotlight from a previous role as a charity CEO in London. The involvement of Pilotlight and the quality of the work and thinking which had gone on under the team's guidance gave me confidence. We have embarked on a considerable change programme for which Pilotlight led the way. It has been an enormous help in getting to grips with the key issues.”
Reading Quest is now looking to work with 10,000 children in the next five years and is launching its scheme in London.