A team of us from the Very Group is walking over fire on Nov 30th to raise money for Coram Beanstalk.

Everyone recognises that the pandemic has impacted many children's learning negatively, particularly those who were already struggling in some way.  Reading is a skill that has a direct impact on children's life chances and by tackling inequalities in reading ability, we tackle broader societal inequalities.

Beanstalk wants all children to choose to read. Evidence shows that when we read because we want to,  not because we are being told to, or feel we have to it makes a significant difference to how successful we are in education, how good we feel and how well we do in life. Coram Beanstalk have been putting a 'reading for pleasure' approach to work since 1973: they were doing it successfully long before it rightly came to such prominence across academic and educational settings. For children to choose to be read to and to read themselves, they need the experience to be positive: enjoyable, satisfying, and involving and for what they are being asked to do to be within their grasp. Put simply, Coram Beanstalk equips people to 'do reading' better with children because the more children encounter confident, capable and inspiring support with their reading at home, in school and in life the more they are likely to get on and stay on the path to becoming a reader.