About the project
Premier League Reading Stars is a partnership between the National Literacy Trust and the Premier League to support hundreds of schools and libraries during 2012 and 2013. The programme for 2013 will be formally launched in March.
Funding from the Premier League and Arts Council England allows targeted schools and libraries to take part free of charge. Others can take part by using our programme resources.
Target audience
Premier League Reading Stars targets Year 5 and 6 pupils who are struggling to reach end of key stage expectations and in danger of falling behind. In secondary schools it is aimed at Year 7 and 8 pupils who did not meet Key Stage 2 targets; those who will probably be C/D borderline students in a few years’ time. Our toolkit for teachers has been written to support the national curriculum at primary and secondary level.
The programme also provides an opportunity to engage with, and bring benefits to, parents. Their involvement can help in terms of raising their own confidence (40% of parents feel more confident speaking in front of other people after taking part in Premier League Reading Stars), as well as inspiring them to improve their own skills and take more interest in their children’s reading habits (84% of parents read more with their child after taking part in PLRS).
Find out why your school should run this programme.
Programme resources
Premier League Reading Stars is, of course, a game of two halves.
1. The Premier League Reading Stars Online Challenge
The Premier League Reading Stars Online Challenge is available to everyone free of charge. Any child with internet access, anywhere in the world, can watch our unique films in which 20 high-profile Premier League players set reading comprehension challenges, and win online rewards by successfully completing the challenges. Challenges can also be used in schools but please note that only those taking part in the full programme will have a school number qualifying them for our prize draw.
2. The Premier League Reading Stars resource pack 
Our resource pack enables teachers and librarians to deliver the programme with a targeted group of children. It contains Premier League branded incentives for pupils, including colourful reading journals, badges and certificates. A toolkit, known as The Tactics Book, provides 10 curriculum-supporting sessions, written by literacy experts (including a high-profile football author). Each pack provides enough resources for 32 pupils, and content for 10 sessions. We anticipate that the programme will typically serve one class over one term.
“Without it I honestly believe that we would have continually struggled to engage the children in reading, and certainly wouldn’t have made it as fun… it really has made a massive difference in the way that the boys view reading now.”
Subject Leader of English
“We loved the enthusiasm that the project created amongst the children – it really gave them a spark. The emphasis on the reading was strong throughout so the children could make the link between football and reading. Some of our children just had no interest in reading at all. You could give them a book but you couldn’t actually make them read. The influence of a footballer telling the children to read more is far, far better than four teachers telling them the same.”
Teacher
