Reading for pleasure levels are at their lowest since 2005, with less than 3 in 10 children and young people aged 9 to 18 saying that they read daily, according to The Literacy Trust.
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A London literacy charity says schools are “desperately” trying to catch up disadvantaged children across the capital.
Ahead of World Book Day, a few of these charities have told City News how they’re improving access and enjoyment across the city.
World Book Day is an annual campaign, with over a hundred countries celebrating the day.
In 2022, two in three children in the UK took part in a World Book Day event, a higher rate than in 2020. The rise is largest for children between the ages of 7 to 11 years old.
Their mission is to “encourage more children to read and raise awareness of the difference reading makes to their lives”.
“It has to be part and parcel, and we need to have parents on board and we need to give children as many opportunities to develop that love of reading” says Julie Taylor. CREDIT: LANA LAZAREVSKI/CITY NEWS
Julie Taylor is the education lead at The Children’s Literacy Charity, an organisation that works with the most disadvantaged children.
The charity aims to close the literacy gap; serving from school year three through to year six.
Its focus is on reading for pleasure. But, the Literacy Trust’s latest report said “reading for pleasure is at its lowest level since 2005 with fewer than three in ten (28%) children and young people aged 9 to 18 saying that they read daily.”
“Children are entering school having not had pre-reading exposure., meaning, there’s a lot of language communication that goes with that” it said.
“So, children who haven’t been exposed to that before school, we already have to start catching them up”.
That issue is then exasperated by “pockets in London” where there is this combination of “deprivation and disadvantage.”
How are charities encouraging reading?
Doorstep Library Charity, has a network of volunteers visiting under-resourced areas once a week. They read stories on the doorstep or in the homes of school children.
They are also encouraging parents to sit with their children so they can see how enjoyable it is.
“Sometimes it’s something as simple as giving a child a choice, and saying to them, you don’t have to read what’s been given to you. You can pick something.” CREDIT: HANNAH MASSOUDI/CITY NEWS
Katie Bareham, the charity’s CEO, highlights that often it becomes clear that parents themselves face barriers in engaging with reading. This, in turn, is affecting their child’s relationship with books.
Citing that maybe the parents don’t have the language or literacy skills “to read for the sheer joy of it. Therefore, that part of childhood is missing”.
“World Book Day is about saying we will take a day to think about nothing more than books for the fun of books, not because they need to learn something.”
Like Julie Taylor, Katie Bareham emphasised the disadvantages. “London has a really big disparity between people living in poverty and under resourced areas and then round the corner you’ve got homes worth five or six million.”
Business Has to Be Sustainable
Sharon Pindar, chair and founder of Bookmark Reading Charity, has a personal connection to literacy struggles, explaining that her mum couldn’t read. As a result, she has “first-hand experience of the devastating impact that poor literacy could have on a child’s life and wider family”.
Bookmark Reading Charity distribute free magazines across a number of community spaces to improve and encourage reading in children. CREDIT: HANNAH MASSOUDI/CITY NEWS
She said this prompted her “to do something to try to address that literacy challenge in the UK”.
Together with Paul Pindar, chair and co-founder of Literacy Capital PLC, the two support each other to create a “sustainable” business idea, making “an investment return but also having a philanthropic impact”.
They employ volunteer readers across the UK.
He said: “In terms of the supply and demand, the whole move to online meant it mattered less. Previously, we had to grow each pool incrementally, whereas now, we just push out for volunteers wherever they are in the UK.
“Geography matters less because when you’re online the good thing is, you can have a volunteer in London supporting a child in Blackpool.”
However, when it comes to school strategy, London remains their focus. “We’ve got into schools in Barking and Dagenham and offered all of them 2,000 worth of library and literacy resources. This will help build their library infrastructure and then on that we’ll build the provision of reading volunteers”.
Paul Pindar concludes that you have to recognise, “a charity is quite a volatile environment, in that you get peaks and troughs of donations. Having that consistent income stream is something that is very important to be able to take on a school that you know you’ll be able to support for the coming years.”
The Continuation of World Book Day
World Book Day’s 2023 report, outlines their future vision to get “more children, from all backgrounds, developing a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, and benefiting from the improved life chances this brings them”.
Acknowledging the cost of living crisis, the report goes on to encourage participants to celebrate the event in a way that works for them.
And while all three charities told City News the most important factor of reading is for “pleasure”, the value of involving parents and giving children choice, Julie Taylor went one step further to declare:
“We’ve got this one day of a year and we’re celebrating and we’re dressing up and we’re having so much fun around books. But actually, books are something to celebrate everyday”.
The Department for Education has not responded to requests to comment.
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HeadlineSchools ‘desperately’ trying to catch up disadvantaged children’, London charity warns
Short HeadlineSchools 'desperate' to catch up disadvantaged children
StandfirstReading for pleasure is a key aim of World Book Day, but a series of barriers are preventing schoolchildren from achieving it.
A London literacy charity says schools are “desperately” trying to catch up disadvantaged children across the capital.
Ahead of World Book Day, a few of these charities have told City News how they’re improving access and enjoyment across the city.
World Book Day is an annual campaign, with over a hundred countries celebrating the day.
In 2022, two in three children in the UK took part in a World Book Day event, a higher rate than in 2020. The rise is largest for children between the ages of 7 to 11 years old.
Their mission is to “encourage more children to read and raise awareness of the difference reading makes to their lives”.
“It has to be part and parcel, and we need to have parents on board and we need to give children as many opportunities to develop that love of reading” says Julie Taylor. CREDIT: LANA LAZAREVSKI/CITY NEWS
Julie Taylor is the education lead at The Children’s Literacy Charity, an organisation that works with the most disadvantaged children.
The charity aims to close the literacy gap; serving from school year three through to year six.
Its focus is on reading for pleasure. But, the Literacy Trust’s latest report said “reading for pleasure is at its lowest level since 2005 with fewer than three in ten (28%) children and young people aged 9 to 18 saying that they read daily.”
“Children are entering school having not had pre-reading exposure., meaning, there’s a lot of language communication that goes with that” it said.
“So, children who haven’t been exposed to that before school, we already have to start catching them up”.
That issue is then exasperated by “pockets in London” where there is this combination of “deprivation and disadvantage.”
How are charities encouraging reading?
Doorstep Library Charity, has a network of volunteers visiting under-resourced areas once a week. They read stories on the doorstep or in the homes of school children.
They are also encouraging parents to sit with their children so they can see how enjoyable it is.
“Sometimes it’s something as simple as giving a child a choice, and saying to them, you don’t have to read what’s been given to you. You can pick something.” CREDIT: HANNAH MASSOUDI/CITY NEWS
Katie Bareham, the charity’s CEO, highlights that often it becomes clear that parents themselves face barriers in engaging with reading. This, in turn, is affecting their child’s relationship with books.
Citing that maybe the parents don’t have the language or literacy skills “to read for the sheer joy of it. Therefore, that part of childhood is missing”.
“World Book Day is about saying we will take a day to think about nothing more than books for the fun of books, not because they need to learn something.”
Like Julie Taylor, Katie Bareham emphasised the disadvantages. “London has a really big disparity between people living in poverty and under resourced areas and then round the corner you’ve got homes worth five or six million.”
Business Has to Be Sustainable
Sharon Pindar, chair and founder of Bookmark Reading Charity, has a personal connection to literacy struggles, explaining that her mum couldn’t read. As a result, she has “first-hand experience of the devastating impact that poor literacy could have on a child’s life and wider family”.
Bookmark Reading Charity distribute free magazines across a number of community spaces to improve and encourage reading in children. CREDIT: HANNAH MASSOUDI/CITY NEWS
She said this prompted her “to do something to try to address that literacy challenge in the UK”.
Together with Paul Pindar, chair and co-founder of Literacy Capital PLC, the two support each other to create a “sustainable” business idea, making “an investment return but also having a philanthropic impact”.
They employ volunteer readers across the UK.
He said: “In terms of the supply and demand, the whole move to online meant it mattered less. Previously, we had to grow each pool incrementally, whereas now, we just push out for volunteers wherever they are in the UK.
“Geography matters less because when you’re online the good thing is, you can have a volunteer in London supporting a child in Blackpool.”
However, when it comes to school strategy, London remains their focus. “We’ve got into schools in Barking and Dagenham and offered all of them 2,000 worth of library and literacy resources. This will help build their library infrastructure and then on that we’ll build the provision of reading volunteers”.
Paul Pindar concludes that you have to recognise, “a charity is quite a volatile environment, in that you get peaks and troughs of donations. Having that consistent income stream is something that is very important to be able to take on a school that you know you’ll be able to support for the coming years.”
The Continuation of World Book Day
World Book Day’s 2023 report, outlines their future vision to get “more children, from all backgrounds, developing a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, and benefiting from the improved life chances this brings them”.
Acknowledging the cost of living crisis, the report goes on to encourage participants to celebrate the event in a way that works for them.
And while all three charities told City News the most important factor of reading is for “pleasure”, the value of involving parents and giving children choice, Julie Taylor went one step further to declare:
“We’ve got this one day of a year and we’re celebrating and we’re dressing up and we’re having so much fun around books. But actually, books are something to celebrate everyday”.
The Department for Education has not responded to requests to comment.
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