The National Literacy Trust website is aimed at practitioners, researchers and others within the literacy community, as well as other professionals interested in supporting the improvement of literacy skills.

About this site
Who is it for?
Editorial policy
How to access information

About this site

Developing and sharing good practice is key to raising literacy standards. Underpinning all that the NLT does is its web-based literacy support network.

Our website - www.literacytrust.org.uk - has been developed to provide free access to information for the literacy community, and other professionals interested in supporting the improvement of literacy skills and the promotion of reading for pleasure. It covers issues around improving the literacy skills of all age groups throughout the UK and includes literacy policy, research, initiatives, news, statistics, events, resources and links. By summer 2007, the number of visits to the site averaged over 16,000 per day.

The website is supported by a free monthly email newsletter, covering new resources, additions to the website, partnerships, fundraising, conferences and job vacancies, as well as key news from each of our projects. In summer 2007, our subscription list included over 11,500 individuals. Projects also produce their own, more detailed email updates at regular intervals. These email newsletters are the best way to keep up-to-date with our work, along with regular visits to the site.

Who is it for?

Our key intended audience is primarily practitioners - both those in the education sector and those working in other areas who have an interest in supporting the development of literacy skills and reading for pleasure.

While there is much on the site that will be of use to parents interested in literacy teaching, the majority of the site is not targeted at them. The Parents section on this site refers mainly to issues around working with parents. It is intended to help practitioners support families and encourage parents to be involved in developing children's literacy and reading. The Family Reading Campaign website includes a section that is specifically for providing advice for families. Talk To Your Baby provides online advice and downloadable resources for parents.

Reviewing or recommending individual books is not a large part of our work since there are other organisations that specialise in this. Some of our projects have produced lists of useful titles on particular themes, such as Reading The Game and football books, but this is not something we do on a regular basis. Details of useful book lists and websites produced by others

Editorial policy

The news items on this site (see Literacy news) are largely edited highlights from coverage of literacy and education issues in the mainstream and specialist press, to whom we are grateful for their continued coverage of the issues. Any use of these referenced extracts must be attributed to the original source and not to the National Literacy Trust. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NLT. Overviews written by the NLT aim to provide a synthesis of current fact and opinion and are not policy statements. We welcome literacy-related news and information for inclusion on the site. If you would like to link to us please do. We do not "exchange" links to improve search engine rankings but link to relevant sites we feel will be useful to visitors.

Information on the site is developed in accordance with users' requests, where relevant. However, we endeavour not to duplicate the work of others and will refer to more specialist organisations where the subject matter strays from our particular focus on literacy and reading for pleasure.

How to access information

This site has over 3,000 pages, covering general information on literacy issues and information on National Literacy Trust initiatives. The website is navigated through three main routes.

The tabs that run horizontally across the top of the page house the main sections of the website. To find events, organisations and NLT publications, click on Resources.

The 'gateway' buttons that run vertically on the left of our home page navigate you to the main index pages in the following six sectors: early years, primary, secondary, parents, adults, and libraries. Each gateway has a comprehensive list of all the information we have on the site relating to each sector.

Once you've chosen a way in, more specific menus appear on the left for particular subject areas or projects.

A site search is provided at the top of every page for people trying to locate specific projects or resources by name. By default, the search engine looks for pages that include all of the words in your search query, although not necessarily as a phrase. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If you are looking for a specific phrase, use quote marks around your search terms for more accurate results. Once you've submitted a search, there are search tips to provide more detailed guidance if you haven't found what you're looking for.

People trying to access information on a more general area of literacy teaching, such as phonics or writing, may find it more useful to use the Site A-Z button to find the index page for that area, which will pull together everything we have on the site that is related.