This year’s National Year of Reading presents an important opportunity to strengthen reading for pleasure, improve literacy outcomes and ensure children and young people have access to books, regardless of school budgets or background.
As you may be aware, research linked to the National Year of Reading highlights that over a quarter of children leave primary school without reaching the expected reading level for an 11 year old, meaning a significant proportion of pupils begin secondary education below the expected literacy level. In addition, around 14% of primary schools, approximately one in seven, do not have a library at all. These figures underline the scale of the challenge, but also the opportunity to make a meaningful difference.
We are Laburnum House Educational, a family run organisation based in the heart of Lincolnshire, working directly with schools across the UK for over 30 years. At a time of significant financial pressure on schools, our role is to help remove cost barriers by supplying great value books throughout the year. Our support helps schools develop classroom libraries, strengthen whole school reading initiatives, and promote reading for pleasure.
Our intention is not to sell a service, but to complement and strengthen the support you already provide to schools in your area, particularly during the National Year of Reading.
We would welcome your help in signposting us to schools or appropriate education teams, or by sharing information about our support through existing school communication channels. We are not seeking funding, simply collaboration to help ensure no school misses out on opportunities to engage pupils with reading.
If you would like to hear more about how we are already supporting schools and working with other local authorities, please do not hesitate to get in touch at your convenience.
