Silver Readers (children) read to a Silver Listener (older member of the community) over the phone once a week
Schools can decide, in consultation with Silver Listener, which is the best day and time of day for these calls to take place.
Title of the project
The older member of the community
The child reading
Children of any age can take part in Silver Stories; the age range is currently 3- 14 years. The process is described very briefly below. If you are interested in becoming a Silver Stories School, please contact us to find out more. It is such a simple scheme that has the most wonderful, positive outcomes for both Listener and Reader.
Silver Stories is a simple but effective way of using the telephone to create intergenerational contact, connecting Silver Readers (children who are undertaking the reading) with Silver Listeners (older people who would welcome this contact). All telephone conversations will be witnessed by a teacher or parent.
By taking part as a Silver Listener you are giving consent for your name and contact telephone number to be shared either with a school or with a parent of a Silver Reader. These details will be kept in a secure Silver Stories database which is only accessed by members of the Silver Stories team. If you decide to stop taking part in Silver Stories and you contact us to inform us of this decision, we will then remove your contact details from the database.
By taking part as the parent/carer of a Silver Reader you are giving consent for your name and your child’s name to be shared with a Silver Listener. These details will be kept in a secure Silver Stories database which is only accessed by members of the Silver Stories team. If reading as part of school participation, the charity will not record your child’s details. If you decide to stop taking part in Silver Stories and you contact us to inform us of this decision, we will then remove your contact details from the database.
There will be an exchange of information such as name and telephone number of a Silver Listener between Silver Stories and a participating school.
The parent/ responsible adult/school is asked to make an initial contact with the Silver Listener to arrange a regular time and day for the Silver Reader to read a story or poem.
Our Silver Stories programme, which began last year, has enabled the children who have been part of it to flourish and it has also provided support and care for members of our wider Christian community. The 3 children who are Silver Readers rang their Silver Listener weekly during their own lunchtime to speak with them…
There are Silver Readers who may wish to use their time with Silver Stories to count towards their Duke of Edinburgh award and we are proud to support any Silver Readers in this endeavour.