Funding for school book clubs to foster love of reading
Anna Pujol-Mazzini
Friday, March 6, 2015
Ministers want schools to set up book clubs and arrange library membership for all seven- and eight-year-olds to help boost children’s reading skills.
Government funding of £100,000 will be available for a new programme supporting schools where Key Stage 2 reading achievements are low.
The scheme will benefit up to 200 primary schools and will allow them to set up book clubs and promote libraries for children.
The idea is to give children the chance to discuss the books they have read in outside the classroom environment and develop their love of literature by discovering new authors and stories.
School reform minister Nick Gibb MP set out the plans to improve reading standards in the UK to coincide with World Book Day (6 March).
‘Nothing is more important than ensuring every child can read well. Poor reading can hold people back throughout their adult lives, preventing them from achieving their full potential,’ Mr Gibb said.
‘Reading: the next steps’ also aims at boosting literacy by asking primary schools to arrange for all Year 3 pupils to become members of a public library, and organising poetry recitals in schools.
According to the Government, the proportion of six-year-olds meeting the expected standards in the phonics check at the end of Year One has risen from 58 per cent to 74 per cent between 2012 and 2014.
Mr Gibb added that the aim was to ‘go further, to improve fluency, exposue of pupils to great literature, and to instill the habit of regular reading.’
