In 1999, the Who Cares? Trust formed a partnership with the National Literacy Association and published Breaking their Fall: Meeting the literacy needs of looked-after children, which put forward proven strategies for addressing children's literacy needs. The Right To Read project, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and in association with the National Literacy Association, aimed to put these strategies into practice in five local authorities to create a lasting impact for looked-after children.

Reading for pleasure is something many of us take for granted. We may have happy memories of being read to in our childhood or being bought a book we could read for fun. The Right To Read project aimed to use the enjoyment of reading as a way to improve literacy through four main elements:

Starter libraries
At least 50 books were placed in 40 residential homes. Staff were encouraged to make a reading area that was comfortable, welcoming and accessible at all times

Right To Read roadshows
Foster carers and residential workers were offered advice on how to choose and use books to enable children to learn whilst enjoying the experience. Training sessions highlighted the pivotal role that carers play in the development of a child's literacy.

Creative achievement days
Children and young people were awarded book tokens, books and other gifts to mark a particular effort in educational achievement of any kind.

Who Cares? magazine
The quarterly Who Cares? magazine reaches 30,000 ten to 18-year-olds in public care. A special edition was sent out with a Right To Read insert, guest edited by children's author Andrea Ashworth. It covered reading, creative writing, word puzzles, competitions and celebrity interviews with presenters Ant and Dec and children's author Jacqueline Wilson, and focused entirely on books and reading.

The young people's excitement and pleasure was obvious almost immediately. The chance to read stories about children in similar situations can help to reduce the isolation and confusion that many young people in care experience. The escapism offered by reading helps too. Within weeks of the starter libraries being set up, requests for more titles poured in with, perhaps unsurprisingly, Harry Potter topping the list. Children in care knew what they wanted to read but until now had no way of acquiring the books. Thanks to the generosity of Bloomsbury, we were able to put copies of the first two Harry Potter books into every residential unit involved in the project.

A questionnaire at the start and end of the project revealed success in statistical terms - initially, 40 per cent of young people said they were not bothered about the starter library, while at the end of the project 84 per cent had used it, with 51 per cent having read four or more books.

It was not just the children who benefited from reading. Many carers felt that the time spent reading with the children had not only improved the child's literacy skills but also had a very positive effect on their relationship with them. One Local authority project leader summed up the success of the project: "I feel that although all children and young people are encouraged to read whilst in the care of the local authority, this project has given reading for pleasure a much higher profile in the care system. We can only build on this for the future welfare and life chances of all looked-after young people."

 

Breaking their fall: meeting the needs of looked after children is available from the National Literacy Association. Call 0121 622 5143, email email@nla.org.uk or visit www.nla.org.uk. The Right to Read report is available for £6.95 from the Who Cares? Trust on 020 7251 3117.

Subscribe to Literacy Today