Care home residents and primary school pupils buddy up for reading sessions

A local primary school has partnered up with Aylesham Court Bupa Care Home in Leicester to help pupils find new reading buddies.

The new scheme will see year 6 pupils from Stafford Leys Primary School visit the care home each Friday, where they will read to different residents for half an hour.

All 60 residents at Aylesham Court have been invited to take part in the reading sessions, and each week, 6 residents and 6 pupils will take it in turns to get involved. The idea came from Annie Southin, Activities Co-Ordinator at Aylesham Court Bupa Care Home.

Annie commented: “It is extremely important for us at Aylesham Court to stay connected with the community and we’re keen to keep our residents’ minds and bodies as active as possible. We thought partnering up with the local primary school would be a great way to do this. The first session went down really well and the residents loved every minute, so we’re hoping to continue running the reading buddy sessions.”

As the first session was so well received, the school and care home have agreed to make the sessions an ongoing weekly commitment over the next few months.

One resident, Brenda Petcher commented: “I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the children read. They got to choose their own book and I helped them with some of the bigger words. It reminded me of teaching my grandchildren to read, such a lovely experience.”

Another resident, Albert Morris, commented: “We had some tea and cake before we started reading, so I got to know all the children’s names and what books they like to read. It was so nice to have some new faces visiting us, they brightened up my day.”

Aylesham Court Bupa Care Home is situated in Kirby Muxloe, Leicester and welcomes residents in need of nursing or residential care including those living with Parkinson’s. For further information, please visit https://www.bupa.co.uk/care-services