A charity that uses tales piracy to inspire children to read is looking to recruit new volunteers.
Forced to abandon ship during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Literacy Pirates saw a dip in their number of volunteers - or ‘crewmates’ - when they had to move their tutoring online.
“We are lucky to have a small group of dedicated long-term volunteers,” volunteer manager Angèle Tilly told the Gazette, “we had to rebuild our volunteer pool to sustain the growth of our programme.”
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The Hackney and Haringey-based organisation offers teacher-led reading and writing support to children between nine and 13 who are falling behind at school.
They have seen their demand grow as more children struggle to keep up at school since lockdown.
“We aim to develop their literacy, perseverance and confidence skills to help our ‘young pirates’ achieve both at school and beyond,” Tilly said.
The children are mentored in pirate-themed rooms called the Deck, complete with lifeboat, or the Deep, with walls covered with books and sea creatures.
To offer one-to-one support, the charity aims to have 15 volunteers on deck every day but also offers online volunteering opportunities allowing people to join the ship from as far as Aberdeen.
The group is looking to expand its online horizons and welcome pupils from schools in Lambeth, Barking and Dagenham and Waltham Forest joining the scheme.
Volunteer information events are organised every month at one of the Literacy Pirates’ ships or online.
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