A team of our employee’s enjoyed being reading buddies with children in Dublin. They celebrated the success of the programme with the students in a recent online Kinia graduation ceremony.
Raylene Downes, HOMS Assist Legal Executive, was thrilled to have taken part in the initiative and sent a video message to the students for their online graduation, commenting,
My reading buddy and I delved into the fantastical world of David Walliams and his Gangster Granny and other tales. It was a wonderful experience to share in these stories and figure out some of the more unfamiliar words through our co-reading.
Raye Downes, Legal Costs Specialist
It just shows that with the clever use of technology and an enthusiastic student we can achieve some pretty awesome results. To all the students I would like to wish you the very best in the future and just remember – keep reading!
Raye Downes, Legal Costs Specialist
Through the online Kinia (formerly Suas) Reading Buddy Programme, children and volunteers logged on to a safe and secure hosting platform. Kinia is an Irish charity that provides reading support to children in Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) across Ireland. Volunteers and children read along together, one-to-one, focusing on improving work, reading and comprehension skills. This scheme builds children's confidence in themselves and encourages them to believe in their own abilities. After our participants completed online training sessions and Garda vetting they took their places assisting sixth class students in a Dublin school, reading for 30 minutes, twice a week, for 8 weeks between April and June 2021.
Our team were thrilled to take part in this initiative, with the online delivery making it possible for our team to assist children from their various nationwide locations throughout Ireland. Kinia have an excellent system set up.
Alice Steen, Knowledge Manager
On behalf of Kinia we would like to extend a huge thank you to our corporate partners and our volunteers who are the backbone of our programmes. It would not be possible to deliver our interventions without companies such as Holmes O'Malley Sexton LLP and
Elaine Murphy, Kinia Projects Manager
We highly recommend this scheme for organisations looking for ways to provide their employees with rewarding corporate responsibility opportunities as well as contributing to children’s literacy and well being in Ireland. The children, schools and Kinia were an absolute pleasure to work with and we wish all the students well in their futures.
The firm are delighted to have supported this during the working day with the necessary equipment to read online with the children. If your organisation would like to become involved please visit www.kinia.ie.