New scheme hopes to get more children reading

A new initiative has been launched in Stoke-on-Trent in a bid to get more children reading.

The Roots to Reading scheme has been launched by the Bookmark Reading Charity and will work across across 29 primary schools where levels of literacy are below the national average.

Only 70% of Stoke-on-Trent children meet the expected level of reading by the end of Year 6, compared with 75% nationally, making the city the lowest ranked across the whole of the West Midlands.

One of the schools to benefit is St John's Church of England Primary School, which has received a delivery of 200 new books.

"I really like books because they just fill you with imagination," one of their pupils said.

Another told the BBC: "If I'm worried about something I just pick up my favourite book and read it and it just gets me lost in there."

Pupils at St John's got a chance to lose themselves in the songs and literature of Gloucestershire author John Dougherty, who was visiting the school as part of an initiative to help improve reading attainment levels in Key Stage 2.

"If I was in charge of education nationally I would put reading for pleasure at the heart of the primary curriculum," Dougherty said.

"You teach them that reading is fun, you get them excited about books, you introduce them to things that they want to read and there's no stopping them."

The Bookmark Reading Charity is delivering these free books, workshops and resources to help children improve their reading, in the hopes of building confidence and a lifelong love of reading.

Martin Scott from the charity said the programme assessed the schools most in need and provided them with the pack of 200 books and accompanying resources, worth about £2,000.

Feedback from the scheme previously showed 94% of teachers thought the programme had inspired improvements in reading culture.

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