Bookmark, a literacy charity that provides volunteer-led reading support for children, this week launches a campaign to help pupils in Birmingham primary schools to improve their reading. Many have fallen behind as a result of disruptions during the Covid pandemic so need urgent help to catch up.  

 

Bookmark has 100 ‘Your Story Packs’ to send to schools in Birmingham as a free gift. So far 19 schools have signed up to receive the packs (worth £2000), so the charity has 81 still available for schools to apply for.

Each pack contains:

·         200 new, high-quality books for children aged four to nine (e.g.The Marvellous Granny Jinks and me by Serena Holly)  

·         8 weeks of free access to the ChatterStars vocabulary development app for children  

·         an annual subscription to Bookmark’s children’s magazine – ‘The Story Corner’ 

·         posters, postcards, worksheets, and a certificate to help encourage reading for pleasure 

·         The ‘Your Story Corner’ competition where children will be invited to write a book review. 

In addition, teachers will have access to Bookmark’s Reading for Pleasure teacher’s group on a professional networking site and 12 months free membership subscription to The National Literacy Trust. Birmingham is one of two areas in England (the other is Lincolnshire) selected to receive the free packs.

The city has areas with high levels of deprivation and poor levels of literacy (according to data from the National Literacy Trust). When Birmingham schools signed up to take part in this project Bookmark asked teachers a series of questions about their current reading for pleasure provision and library resources.

They found that:

  

·         10 per cent of schools had no library at all 

·         30 per cent of those with a library had less than 400 books 

·         The quality, variety and diversity of resources was rated by teachers at just 4 out of a maximum of 10. 

Mary Hyland, Head Teacher at St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Handsworth, said: “We are really in need of these books as we are in a deprived area. This will make such a difference. The children will get great pleasure from reading these books and it will encourage them to continue reading at school and at home. Thanks again so much.” 

Sharon Pindar, Founder and Chair of Bookmark, said: “My mother couldn’t read so I learnt first-hand the impact it can have on a person’s life.

“Struggling with reading can make it difficult to apply for university, complete job applications or access important health information. We were already concerned about the huge numbers of children who were struggling with their reading.

“But Covid-19 has made the situation much worse and had a devastating impact on their education. One in four children had no schooling or tutoring at all during lockdown and school closures are estimated to have undone 10 years of progress in narrowing the attainment gap for disadvantaged children. 

“At Bookmark we have a simple mission: we want every child to read. We hope this initiative will make a huge difference to children in the greatest need of support.”  

The first batch of Your Story Corner packs are being sent to 19 Birmingham schools on      25 April. This will be followed by more by the end of May as other schools sign up for the scheme. Schools in Birmingham wanting packs should apply via the Bookmark website before 6 May. 

The charity is also looking for more volunteers to become reading supporters so they can reach even more children.