Bookmark, a charity aimed at improving children’s literacy, has announced that Graihagh Crawshaw-Sadler will be its new chief executive. She joins from Teach First, where she has spent the last 13 years as a director, most recently as director of strategy and learning.

Crawshaw-Sadler is a former teacher and charity senior leader with 17 years’ experience in the education and charity sectors.

She joined Teach First in 2009, following a fast-track PGCE in English and Drama and teaching in two London schools, to develop university access programmes for pupils and volunteer mentors.

Since 2019, as the director of school leadership programmes, she has overseen the scale up and continuous improvement of a suite of leadership programmes reaching over 4,000 leaders each year.

Sharon Pindar, chair of Bookmark, said: “Our vision is simple: we want every child to read. At a time when more children than ever are not meeting the expected level of reading and need extra help, we are focused on building our scale and capacity. We’re delighted Graihagh will be joining us in our mission to change the story for many more children.”

Crawshaw-Sadler said: “For a child, being able to read independently on leaving primary school is a key determinant of future academic success. At a pupil and system level, I am committed to accelerating the pace of change for those who have had an unfair start.”