A Chic New Partnership between Kildare Village and St. Brigid’s 

Wednesday, February 15th, 2017

KV2The beginning of 2017 saw the management team of Kildare Village start off a new Time to Read programme in their local school.  St. Brigid’s Primary in Kildare Town is one of the country’s largest and most diverse primary schools with over 1,000 pupils from some 15 different nationalities and has come about as a result of an amalgamation of the towns’ two main primary schools in 2013.

Kildare Village first became aware of the Time to Read programme when attending BITC’s Showcase Event at the RDS last May.  Already delivering a Skills@Work programme in Kildare Community School, they believed that this reading programme would allow the staff to broaden out the scope of their volunteering in the local community in a positive way, allowing more people to participate.

With a couple of sessions under their belt already the staff are really enjoying the experience.   On arrival each day they meet with their young charges who are opening up to volunteers and are already showing signs of real progress – reading more fluently and gaining increased confidence in their abilities.

Kildare Village volunteers are sharing in the enjoyment and are keen to make each session fun while bringing their own ideas to the programme.  Already they have scheduled a group “show and tell” session for world book week which will feature each volunteer and student presenting their favourite Time to Read book to the group and a fun bookmark making experience.

Maureen Bergin, Kildare Village had the following to say:

“The team at KV very much enjoy participating in the Skills @ work programme and were keen to get further involved with the local community in a meaningful way. The Time to Read programme provides an alternative volunteering opportunity for a further ten members of the team.  The children in St Brigid’s are totally engaged and it’s so rewarding to see that even a few weeks can have a very positive impact on not only their reading skills but also their confidence”