I’ve always loved reading. As a child, I practically devoured books and at university, I could barely believe how much time I was allowed – expected even – to spend reading. So when I started working in financial services a couple of years after graduating, I was delighted to discover my new firm ran a reading partner scheme with a local secondary school. I signed up straight away to share my love of reading with the next generation.

Although the school in Tower Hamlets was a short taxi ride from our office in Fenchurch Street, it felt a million miles away from work. We always arrived at lunchtime when the school was chaotic and noisy, but the reading room was a haven of calm. My first reading partner clearly didn’t really enjoy reading, yet even though I was encroaching on his lunch break, he always turned up and gave it a go.

I went in thinking the scheme was just about improving literacy, but quickly realised it was about so much more. For many of the pupils, English was not the main language spoken at home, and something like three quarters qualified for free school meals. Our group of City workers were there to provide support with reading, but we also helped build confidence and give the children a view of a wider world. 

Jim, the incredible special needs lead who ran the scheme on the school side, inspired us to help broaden the pupil’s horizons. We took them to a pantomime at Hackney Empire and to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Older students came to our office for work experience. It felt important and useful, but it was also lots of fun and a chance to think of something completely different to my day job. 

But then I left the company, and life moved on, and my reading partner days came to an end. At least until my own children were in primary school (if you hadn’t realised, the photo is Fantastic Mr Fox, my son’s Award Winning World Book Day costume in 2019 – a heady height we never reached again). For the last nine years (with a break for Covid), I’ve spent an afternoon a week reading at the school round the corner from my house. My two don’t even go there anymore – the oldest is in the thick of her GCSEs – but I enjoy doing it so much, I hope to carry on for a while yet.

It feels rewarding to be supporting the amazing teachers, but the thing I love most is seeing the hands that shoot up into the air when I walk into the classroom because the children want to come and read with me. I like to think I’m achieving my goal of passing on my love of reading, but quite often they just want a break from the lesson, year 5 (9-10 year olds) is tough! And where else would I get the chance to spend an afternoon finding out about Ancient Egypt, the goings on in a magical shop, inspirational disabled artists and athletes, the Vikings and what happened next to the Twits, then finish up with a game of adults-versus-kids rounders. 

It may be a long way from Tower Hamlets, and I don’t just mean geographically, but even in the home counties there are opportunities to open children’s eyes to new experiences – like a me scoring a rounder in jeans and flip flops.