The 'Time to' programmes
Latest News
31 July 2009
May and June were extremely busy months during which almost 50 workplace visits were arranged for children in the Time to programmes. Over the years, these visits have been an extremely important aspect of the Time to programmes and have been memorable for the children and adults attending. A complete collection of photographs capturing highlights of these recent visits are in the Case Studies sections. Click the Case Studies Menu option in the appropriate section of the relevant programme to view the photographs.
15 July 2009
Time to Read at King's Park Primary School in Whiteabbey
Click on this link to read the volunteer's story supplied by Kim Colman from Northgate in Newtownabbey
1 July 2009
Time to Compute at Harpur's Hill Primary School, Coleraine
Tracey Rosborough, from HM Revenue & Customs, has provided a Volunteer's story to highlight the involvement she and her colleague, Alison Lamont, have had in the programme.
1 July 2009
Visits to Time to Read schools during May and June
These were very busy months for the Business in the Community Education Team, who visited a number of schools and pictured volunteers and children at work.
Schools visted were as follows:
- Whitehouse PS
- Hazelwood IPS
- Holy Rosary PS
- Hart Memorial PS
- Ballysillan PS
- Seaview PS
- St Mark's PS
- St Aidan's PS
- Harding Memorial PS
- Our Lady's PS
- Cliftonville PS
- St Bernard's PS (Glengormley)
May 2009
Time to Compute in King's Park Primary School, Whiteabbey and in Harper's Hill Primary School in Coleraine
Our photographer visited the volunteers from Northbrook in Newtownabbey and HM Revenue & Customs in Coleraine to see them in action.
22 April 2009
Time to Read in St Joseph's Primary School, Slate Street
KPMG and HM Revenue & Customs support the programme in this school. Our photographer took this photograph on his latest visit.
21 April 2009
Time to Read in King's Park Primary School, Newtownabbey
Jonathan Hunter from Musgrave Retail Partners has recently joined the Time to Read team in this school, with three other volunteers from Northgate, an IT Systems & Solutions company. The group photograph was taken on the 21st of April.
8 April 2009
Time to Read in The Good Shepherd Primary School
Volunteers are joining Time to Read at all times throughout the year, and a recent visit to The Good Shepherd Primary School in West Belfast captured the introduction of Brigid Farnan to the programme there, where she joins long-term volunteers Carrie and Lesley-Anne
Time 2 Count in The Fountain Primary School and in Tandragee Primary School
During this school year, Time 2 Count has continued in The Fountain Primary School in Derry and has started in the Primary School in Tandragee with volunteers from the local Northern Bank, who are pictured in our Case Studies section.
During March 2009
Time to Read in Hollybank, Our Lady of Lourdes, Ashgrove and Mossgrove Primary Schools
March was a busy month for visiting the Newtownabbey schools with an opportunity to take photographs of Time to Read in action in each of these schools.
25 March 2009
Time to Read at Ballysillan Primary School
In this school, Donna and Larry from FG Wilson volunteer on one morning of each week and Jill, Jill, and Christine from Royal Mail volunteer every Wednesday morning. Our photographer called on Wednesday, 25 March and took some photographs. Both Jills also provided their own little stories.
20 March 2009
Time to Compute in Elmgrove Primary School
A Visit to the volunteers from Bombardier Aerospace Shorts at Elmgrove Primary School led to the following photographs being taken and another volunteer story being captured (without too much arm-twisting!)
27 February 2009
Time to Compute at St Joseph's Primary School, Holland Drive
The volunteers from Fujitsu, who have been supporting the children in St Joseph's for a number of years, have provided a Volunteer's story and some photographs from a recent visit.
Thursday 5 March 2009 is WORLD BOOK DAY!
The aim of this special day was to encourage children to explore the pleasure of books. We hope that all Time to Read volunteers celebrated this event during the week beginning Monday 2 March, either by becoming involved in any activities planned by your Time to Read school, or by using the World Book Day ideas and resources to emphasize to the children the importance of reading. Click HERE for further information in the Resources section
24 February 2009
Time to Read in Forge Integrated Primary School
Imelda McGowan, a new volunteer in Time to Read, has joined the team in Forge IPS. Her introductory meeting is pictured in our Case Studies section.
19 February 2009
Time to Read in Avoniel Primary School
A new volunteer, Ciara Mulholland from Citigroup, has joined Terry and Joan in Time to Read in this school.
The volunteers are pictured in our Case Studies section.
Terry Weir, from Funeral Services Northern Ireland, is now in his 4th year of Time to Read, supporting the children in this school. His volunteer story can be found HERE
18 February 2009
Time to Read in Brooklands Primary School
A photographer from the Northern Ireland Office recently visited Time to Read in Brooklands Primary School. Photographs can be viewed in the Case Studies section.
Welcome to the seven new Time 2 Count schools that have started in the programme this school year
- Ballymena County Primary School
- Ballyhenry Primary School
- St Patrick's Primary School
- Loughgiel Primary School
- St Macnissis's Primary School
- Newtownabbey Primary School
- Taughmonagh Primary School
The children in these schools are supported by volunteers from the Northern Bank, HM Revenue and Customs and PricewaterhouseCoopers
29 January 2009
Time to Read in Cavehill Primary School - a new volunteer start to join some "old hands"!
. . . more . . .
KPMG and Time to Read in St Joseph's Primary School, Belfast
See the volunteers from KPMG in action!
Celebrate and Inspire
A special event was held on the afternoon of 12 June in St Joseph's Primary School, Slate Street, Belfast to congratulate and applaud volunteers who have been committed to the Time to Read programme for 3 years or more. This occasion was attended . . . more . . .
Time to Read—Workplace Visits:
"Workplace visits have taken place during May and June with many volunteers arranging for the children they mentor to have an opportunity to see where they work, to get an understanding of what their mentor does during their working day, and to experience the environment of that particular business. Click HERE to view photographs of recent visits made to Canyon Europe, Nortel, the Castlereagh Campus of Belfast Metropolitan College, Tesco in the Abbey Retail Park in Newtownabbey, JS Sainsbury at Forestside, and Hughes Christensen"
Visits in May and June to Time to Read Schools
During the summer term, our photographer made visits to the following schools: Avoniel Primary School, Elmgrove Primary School, Rosstulla School in Jordanstown, and on World Book Day to Lisnaharragh Primary School.
Time to Read in Cairnshill Primary School
4 employees from 4 different companies have formed an excellent team of volunteers on the programme in this school. On a recent Time to Read session one of the company coordinators called in to see them.
Time to Read—a date for your diary:
A Celebration Event for all Time to Read volunteers will be held on Thursday, 12 June 2008 from 4:00 to 6:00pm in St Joseph's Primary School, Slate Street, Belfast.
Please put this day and time into your diary and plan to attend.
More details will follow . . .
18 April 2008
Time to Read
The volunteers from Canyon Europe and Nortel have been working with the children in Hazelwood Integrated Primary School every Tuesday morning, and the group are pictured enjoying Time to Read . . . more . . .
14 March 2008
Time to Read in St Bernard's Primary School, Glengormley
A recent visit to St Bernard's Primary School in Newtownabbey gave a chance to photograph the Time to Read volunteers from Henderson's, Tesco, and NIHE with the children they support. Click here for those pictures
22 February 2008
Time to Read: Thursday 6 March is WORLD BOOK DAY!
The aim of this special day is to encourage children to explore the pleasure of books. We would hope that all Time to Read volunteers would plan to celebrate this event during the week beginning Monday 3 March, either by becoming involved in any activities planned by your Time to Read school, or by using the World Book Day ideas and resources to emphasize to the children the importance of reading.
Full details on the Resources section
23 January 2008
Time 2 Count website resource
A new website called Homework Rules has been developed by Belfast Metropolitan College staff working with local schools; it is designed to help parents of Key Stage 2 children and has a particular focus on mathematics.
This website has been placed on our resources list for Time 2 Count.
30 November 2007
Time to Read in Holy Child Primary School
A recent visit to Holy Child Primary School in West Belfast was an opportunity to photograph the Time to Read volunteers from Dillon Bass and Parity with the children they support. Click here for those pictures
13 November 2007
On recent visits to Time to Read schools in Newtownabbey, opportunities were taken to photograph volunteers from the Henderson Group and the NI Housing Executive, together with the children they are supporting . . . more . . .
1 November 2007
A recent photo opportunity took place at Star of the Sea primary school in North Belfast, which featured 2 of the volunteers on the Northern Bank Time2 Count programme. This highlighted the support given to the children by volunteers from Nortel Networks and the Northern Bank. Click HERE for more information.
10 October 2007
Mountnorris Primary School joins the Time 2 Count programme
In Time to Read, 200 company volunteers have been recruited to support 400 children in the 50 new primary schools that are involved in a QUB/NFER research project over the next 2 years.
This major research project is funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, who are supporting Business in the Community in proving the value of adults mentoring children.
Queens University and the National Foundation for Education Research are conducting a control trial with these volunteers and children in order to prove the positive impact mentoring has on young people.
The schools taking part in this research project are . . .
Volunteers taking part in the research project come
from these companies
The Time to Read random control trial research is attracting a great deal of interest from the Research community throughout the world. Our volunteers may be interested in a website that brings together all current and ongoing research on positive outcomes for young people. Prevention Action is an international publication, updated daily with a story about research on child development, emerging models and applications to policy and practice.
The annual Northern Bank Time 2 Count end-of-year Celebration Party, hosted by the Bank, was held on 13 June in W5 at the Odyssey, Belfast. Children, volunteers and teachers were enthralled and tested in all manner of maths and science experiments and a great time was enjoyed by all.
Welcome to the first two special schools who have joined Time to Read during the 2006/07 school year –
- Rostulla School in Jordanstown, (supported by volunteers from Nortel NI, Newtownabbey)
- Knockavoe School in Strabane (supported by volunteers from Northbrook Technology)
Welcome to the four new schools that have started Time 2 Count during the past six months –
- St Patrick’s Primary School, Newtownstewart
- Tandragee Primary School, Tandragee
- St Patrick’s Primary School, Mullanaskea
- St Mary’s Primary School, Newcastle

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