How to volunteer
Before applying, please read the 'What's involved' section to make sure you can meet our basic requirements, and use our branch finder to check that our service covers your area.
To succeed in your application, you must be able to answer "yes" to the following questions (London applicants may skip question 1):
- Do we have a branch in your area?
- Are you able to visit a local school twice a week, during school hours?
- Can you make this commitment for at least one year?
- Have you been a resident in the UK for at least two years?
- Are you fluent in English (both speaking and reading)?
- Are you happy about us applying for a CRB check and providing us with two references?
Application process
Please note the application process can take between four to twelve weeks to complete.
- You complete an application form and return it to VRH
- We contact you to arrange an informal interview
- We complete a CRB check and take up two references
- You attend VRH initial training
- Once all the training and paperwork is complete, we place you at a local school
Only when all the above stages are completed satisfactorily can we place you in a school. We will let you know at each stage whether we feel this is the right role for you. If for any reason we feel we won't be able to place you in a school, we will be open and honest about this to ensure we don't waste your time.
Please note the application process can take several weeks to complete and we ask you to commit for a year from when you start your placement. If you are applying to volunteer in London, we currently have a waiting list of volunteers, due to the phenomenal response we have had to the Evening Standard 'Get London Reading' campaign. Please feel free to complete an application form and return it to us so that we can add you to our waiting list. We are working hard on training and placing in schools the hundreds of applicants we have already received to date. Once we have placed all our current applicants in a school and have spoken with local schools about their capacity to take on further volunteers, we shall contact you when further vacancies become available. Please contact us on 020 7729 4087 if you would like to discuss this further.
Request an application form
Please ensure all fields are filled in correctly.
If you would like us to mail you an application pack, please complete the form below. To speak to your local branch before you apply, please use our branch finder to get their contact details.
