A group of volunteers from Burton based pub company Punch Taverns are helping youngsters at a local primary school to improve their reading.
Year six pupils from William Shrewsbury Primary School, Stretton are joined each Friday afternoon by volunteers from Punch who listen to the children read, help them with any difficult words and bring the stories to life for them.
Jacqueline Frow, Partner Development Manager at Punch is one eight volunteers who visits the school. She comments: “It’s a great opportunity for us get involved and support the local community. The children seem to really love the one to one attention and discussing their own ideas.
“I work with a number of licensees in the Burton area who are keen to get more involved in the local community and this experience has given me some great ideas on how they might offer their support.”
Two pupils from William Shrewsbury wrote to Punch Taverns asking if any employees would be willing to support them. The opportunity was promoted internally at Punch and eight volunteers offered their support.
“I think William Shrewsbury is really pleased that Punch responded to the request and both us as volunteers and the children seem to be getting a huge amount from the experience,” added Jacqueline.
Anne Shuker, Teacher at William Shrewsbury said: “It’s good to hear that the volunteers are enjoying listening to the children read and discussing their books with them. The children love it and keep asking me if someone is coming to hear them read on Friday!”