Your Story Corner Programme: Anglian Water
Why are we there?
Bookmark Reading joined forces with Anglian Water to help children in its region learn to read. The focus areas – Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, have some of the highest need for literacy support.
We were delighted 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.
What did we do?
We awarded funding to many schools in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to re-invigorate their libraries and reading spaces. Anglian staff worked alongside children as reading volunteers and helped to create “Story Corners” to give children a space to read.
200 books were donated to each of five schools in Lincolnshire and further donations have been made to 6 schools in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
What was the impact?
The project successfully expanded the range, quality, and diversity of books available to children in supported schools. Early results also show that the pilot inspired many schools to improve their reading spaces and libraries.
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8%
increase in the number of children reading at home every day
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29%
increase in the number of children using the school reading spaces before and after the project
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50%
of Anglian Water schools said the project made a positive difference to their whole school reading culture
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100%
of Anglian Water schools said the project made a positive difference to reading enjoyment and motivation
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75%
increase in number of children taking up individual reading within the school’s reading spaces
Bookmark Reading Charity is very excited about this partnership; it is wonderful to be delivering key services and resources to both new and existing schools within our network.
Working closely with Anglian Water we hope that high-quality diverse books, and other resources, will inspire children to read and bring added life to their schools’ reading spaces.
We are very grateful to Anglian Water for their support and look forward to both strengthening this partnership and exploring other ways to support children with their reading enjoyment, skills and confidence.
We're delighted with our new books and the partnership we’ve formed with Bookmark and Anglian Water. It will help our children build their enthusiasm for reading and develop a better understanding of the environment around them, in particular the importance of fresh, clean water.
