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Love to read with the Premier League: Be one of 1,000 schools and libraries to take part free of charge
6 Jul 2011
Are your pupils more interested in football than reading? The National Literacy Trust is launching the 2011/12 Premier League Reading Stars initiative to turn football fans into reading fans.
Funding from the Premier League and Arts Council England means the charity is offering 1,000 schools, libraries and football clubs the opportunity to take part in this exciting project completely free of charge. The project offers practical resources for teachers to inspire their pupils to read through the motivational power of the ‘beautiful game’.
When teachers register for Premier League Reading Stars, they will receive:
- A Premier League Reading Stars "Tactics Book" which contains 10 lesson plans (developed to support the National Curriculum)
- Premier League branded materials (including high-quality reward badges and activity-packed reading journals) for a class of 32 pupils
- One day’s free training for a member of staff
- Exclusive access to literacy challenges delivered by Premier League heroes in a collection of online video clips
The National Literacy Trust has run the Premier League Reading Stars project since 2003 and it has been proven to have a significant impact on pupils’ reading. In fact, 96% of children who take part say they will read more regularly and recent research shows that enthusiastic readers are five times more likely to be above average readers.
Primary schools, libraries and professional football clubs are all eligible to apply to take part. The deadline for applications is the 30th of September 2011. If you are successful, the National Literacy Trust will invite you to a free training day in the autumn term and reserve a resource pack for you, ready for you to deliver the project in either the spring or summer term 2012.
For settings that are not successful in gaining one of the limited free places, or that would like to run the project with more than one class, the pack will also be available to purchase in the autumn term.
Sarah Poole, Subject Leader of English, Cornfield School, Sussex says:"Without our involvement with Premier League Reading Stars I honestly believe that we would have continually struggled to engage the children in reading.”
Find out more and apply here.
-ENDS-
For more information about Premier League Reading Stars please contact Anna Lindsay, National Literacy Trust Public Relations Officer via anna.lindsay@literacytrust.org.uk or 020 7820 6256.
Notes to Editors
1. About the National Literacy Trust
The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity and the leading literacy expert in the UK. We have worked with schools since 1993, providing innovative resources, information and support. Over 30,000 teachers, librarians and other professionals have benefitted from our networks.
To find out more about the support we offer to schools please visit www.literacytrust.org.uk/schools
To help us transform lives through literacy, you can make a donation or support our work. To find out how visit http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/support
National Literacy Trust is a registered charity no. 1116260, and a company limited by guarantee, no. 5836486. Registered in England and Wales. Registered address: 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL. Tel: 020 7587 1842
2. About the Premier League
The main role of the Premier League is to manage the top flight of football in the country. As well as providing funding for Premier League Reading Stars, the Premier League is also facilitating the project by providing access to some of the world’s greatest players. The online challenges will be hosted on the Premier League site, www.premierleague.com, from the end of 2011. Premier League Reading Stars is one of the community projects which the Premier League runs as part of its Creating Chances scheme.
3. About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the other funder of the Premier League Reading Stars project, helping us to reach hundreds of schools, libraries and football clubs. Its main function is to ensure the wellbeing of the arts in the nation, by providing support and funding for artists and organisations. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people's lives. It supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2011 and 2015, it will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and a further £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk
