It’s 12.30 on a Thursday afternoon, and 83-year-old Joyce receives the call she’s been looking forward to all week. 

For the next 10 minutes, she listens carefully as Alexandra and Ralph, both aged 11, take turns to read the next chapter of the book all three of them have been enjoying together. Once the reading is over, they discuss the book and catch up about the past week. 

Joyce describes these weekly calls as a “lifeline”, Ralph says Joyce is “like a best friend”, while Alexandra describes her as “very calming” to talk to. 

This is Silver Stories in action, a free initiative that sees pupils read to older people in the community over the phone. It’s been running for seven years, with 71 schools and hundreds of volunteers taking part. 

Anecdotally, schools have always reported success, and this year, for the first time, academic research has been published on its impact. 

George Koutsouris, a senior lecturer in education at the University of Exeter, led the research. Conducted for two terms in five schools, the study involved 47 “silver listeners” and 52 “silver readers” aged 6-10, all of whom had never taken part before. The children weren’t selected on reading ability but on willingness to be involved. 

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The conversations happened at least once a week for two terms, but individual schools had the flexibility to decide when they took place; it was during the third lockdown and Koutsouris was keen for the programme to be easy to introduce. The same children were always paired with the same listener. 

Interviews and questionnaires were conducted throughout, and overall, the findings were positive.

Reading levels weren’t measured before and after participation, so there is no numerical data to show whether there was an effect on children’s reading skills. 

However, teachers and parents did report that interest in reading had improved, and that children were reading with expression, learning more words, reading more complex books, reading independently, reading in front of others and teaching siblings to read. 

Schools also reported benefits for social and emotional learning, and said children’s confidence in broader social skills, including using the phone and making small talk, had increased. 

“One of the interesting aspects is what happens before and after the story. If a child literally reads the story and then hangs up, there’s an opportunity lost. The magic happens in the informal chat, where the listener and reader discuss what’s happened in school that day, holidays or the weather, even,” says Koutsouris. “That’s where the relationships are built, and where children can really develop those social, conversational skills.”

Children’s wellbeing, he says, also saw a boost. He suggests this is because they felt they were making a difference, and helping an elderly person to feel less isolated, especially during lockdown. In turn, the listeners felt like they were contributing towards their local community, and helping the children with their reading. 

For the whole school, community benefits were particularly pertinent, he adds.

“Schools found it was an opportunity to engage with their communities, particularly with the older generation who might not have so much to do with school life,” he says. “They also said it helped them to deliver a particular ethos about kindness, helping others and tackling loneliness.” 

Koutsouris and his team are planning to conduct more research on the programme on a wider scale, and also want to explore the benefits for disadvantaged children in particular. 

Paired reading with pensioners: how does it work?

If a school is interested in signing up to Silver Stories today, how exactly does it work in practice?

Former headteacher Elisabeth Carney-Haworth founded the charity with her husband David, and she says that the first step is to register interest. Schools can find their own silver listeners, or the charity will find one for them. 

Both the school and the listener sign a consent form, and phone numbers are exchanged. The school designates a teacher who will take the lead with the programme (usually a head of English, librarian or teaching assistant) who will then make the initial phone call to the listener to organise the sessions. 

There are some basic guidelines in place, but schools have flexibility over which children take part and when the conversations happen, explains Elisabeth.  

Lots of schools arrange for conversations to take place during lunchtime, while others conduct them as part of library sessions. Children can read in pairs or alone, and the choice of what’s read is up to the member of staff involved and the child - although it’s recommended that the children feel enthusiastic about the text. If children are reading picture books, they should be encouraged to describe the pictures. 

The initiative is purposefully really simple, stresses Elisabeth: it’s up to schools to utilise it in a way that’s sustainable for them. “I always say to schools: start small, realise the impact and then grow at a pace and to a point that’s manageable and still enjoyable,” she says. 

There are, however, a few things to be aware of. From a safeguarding point of view, there always has to be an adult in the room, so the calls aren’t happening unsupervised. The silver listeners are told they cannot share any personal details about themselves, and the children are told not to ask. 

The adult supervising the call should play a scaffolding role as well as a safeguarding one, adds Elisabeth, to encourage a positive relationship to form.

“It is a little odd at first for the children to start talking to a stranger on the other end of the phone, but this is where the teacher should offer support and scaffold the interactions,” she says. “They can introduce the reader and listener to each other in the first instance, and then if the pupil goes a little quiet, encourage them with questions about the story.”

But children should never be forced to take part, says David, because the whole point of the scheme is to get them reading for enjoyment. 

That’s not to say that pupils who struggle with reading shouldn’t be encouraged to get involved, though - the scheme can be a great confidence boost for these children.

As David explains: “The silver listener is completely nonjudgmental and is simply there to listen, not correct.”