Springboard for Children aims to challenge the effects of underachievement in deprived inner-city areas and break the cycle of disaffection, alienation and frustration experienced by barely literate primary school children; feelings that can have a detrimental effect on a child’s life chances. Springboard offers schools a programme of high quality, intensive, tailor made multi-sensory, literacy tuition, delivered by qualified tutors and trained volunteers. They enable vulnerable, barely literate children to overcome their learning difficulties and raise their expectations of themselves and their ability to achieve.

The consistent success of the Springboard programme relies heavily upon the dedication and commitment of the volunteers who work on a one-to-one basis with the children. Volunteers build a supportive relationship with each child as they work with them through the programme. For the majority of the children, this is the only time they receive the undivided attention of an adult. This aspect of work goes a long way to helping these vulnerable children develop their self-confidence, self-esteem and develop a positive attitude to learning. Springboard has the sole use of one room at St Mark’s School in Kennington in South London on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The unit is managed by a qualified specialist literacy tutor who is supported by 4 trained volunteers. 15 of the schools’ neediest children are taken from their mainstream classroom to the unit, twice a week, by their volunteer tutor.

Each Springboard teaching unit is a standalone project in terms of funding and efforts are made to ensure each project is funded by a charitable trust, charitable foundation, or corporate sponsor for a minimum of one academic year. The ALMT are granting the funds to run the project at St Mark’s for three years. The trustees feel this educational intervention programme offers not only high-quality literacy tuition but also provides stability and continuity to each child as they are taught by the same volunteer twice a week for as long as they are on the programme.