Reading to their KPMG partners doubles Amherst pupils' progress

COMMUNITY involvement can make a difference to the reading ability of children, a primary school with a successful volunteer partnership has said.

For the past three years KPMG staff have been visiting Amherst every Wednesday for one-on-one reading sessions with the children.

Its work, and the efforts of other assisting organisations, was praised in the Mulkerrin review of primary education, which noted a worrying decline in reading standards - especially for boys.

Amherst literacy coordinator Sharon Carvill said the one-hour sessions had proved beneficial for the children.

By the second year of the programme, 60% of pupils had made double their expected progress.