Your Story Corner packs for schools in Birmingham and Lincolnshire

Bookmark has recently been awarded funding to help schools to re-invigorate their libraries and reading spaces. We’re currently piloting this project in two areas that have a high-level of need for literacy support: Birmingham and Lincolnshire.

We’re delighted to be able to offer schools in these areas the resources to develop a whole school reading culture and embed reading for pleasure into the lives of their pupils with our Your Story Corner pack.

The need

These packs, which are worth over £2,000 will be delivered to an initial 66 schools. When schools signed up , we asked them about their current reading for pleasure provision and library resources.

• 13% of the first set of schools to receive the ​‘Your Story Corner’ pack currently have no library of their own.
• 40% of the schools currently have less than 400 books.

We also asked teachers to describe their existing reading spaces in three words. There were 42% more negative words used to describe schools’ current resources, than positive descriptions. These words included, small, dated, and limited.

One teacher said:

“Our school’s reading spaces are limited to within classrooms – we need resources and budget to create a designated reading area. We only have books for topics and individual reading books stored along corridors.”

The packs

Each school taking part in the project will receive the following:

• 200 new, high-quality books suitable for children aged 4 – 9.
• 12 months free membership subscription to The National Literacy Trust.
• Annual subscription to Bookmark’s children’s magazine – ​‘The Story Corner’.
• 8 weeks of free access to the ChatterStars vocabulary development app for 300 children.
• Posters, postcards, worksheets, and a certificate to help encourage reading for pleasure.
• The chance to win additional resources through the ​‘Your Story Corner’ competition.
• Access to Bookmark’s Reading for Pleasure Teacher’s group on the Guild professional networking site.

Application

Applications for Your Story Corner packs have now closed. We will be launching a Whole School Reading Culture grant in the new academic year, you can register your interest here.

We also provide a volunteer-led programme for children in Years 1 – 4 who are at risk of not meeting the expected standard for reading, click here to find out more.