Minster Law to support TutorMate programme

Minster Law is providing funding and volunteers for the online reading programme TutorMate, which supports over 2,000 struggling young readers in primary schools in London, Bradford, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, East Sussex and Glasgow and Edinburgh. Twenty Minster Law colleagues will read remotely for 30 minutes a week over the TutorMate platform with their matched children over the course of the current academic year.

TutorMate is an online, remote reading support solution for 5-7-year-olds in disadvantaged areas. It is the core programme of Innovations for Learning (IfL), a UK registered charity, established in the UK in 2018, which believes in the power of literacy to transform lives. Repeated international research is clear that children who don’t read well by the end of primary school are those who struggle to fulfil their potential.

“We are delighted that Minster Law has agreed to support us again this year. The need for TutorMate is greater than ever as the cost of living pressures on families compound the problems of the pandemic. Those who struggle with reading are falling even further behind and will benefit enormously from this additional reading practice with their own personal 1:1 reading volunteer,” said Emma Bell, Innovations for Learning UK, Executive Director.

Joanne Poynton, an Associate at Minster Law who helped set up the relationship, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to support so many children across the UK with their literary. Reading is the bedrock of a successful education; reading allows a child to use their imagination and escape into the story they are reading.  Reading helps a child to learn about different cultures, societies as well as people, places and events outside their own experiences.  Our volunteers are looking forward to reading with the children this year.”

For more information about TutorMate go to https://www.innovationsforlearning.org/uk/home