This week a Norwich FC player will hopefully follow the lead of a High Court judge, a policeman, a fireman, a postman and a host of other parents and grandparents in reading to the children at one of Kid Ease nurseries.
The six-setting chain, with four nurseries in Kent, one in Norwich and one in Hornchurch, Essex, is a month into a major push to encourage parents to read more at home with their children.
The campaign was inspired amid staff unease about the extent to which TV and DVDs seemed to be replacing books and bedtime stories nowadays, and although it was originally mapped out before the nurseries knew of the National Year of Reading, the chain is now incorporating the national campaign resources into its own scheme.
'We felt that there was a need for this kind of initiative, because we were aware that while children participate in reading activities at nursery, the demands on working parents mean that time isn't always set aside for reading at home. We just wanted to create an excitement about reading,' says marketing executive Rebecca Delves, who helped organise the campaign from the company's head office.
The scheme is already proving a success, and while initially intended to run through February and March, there are plans to extend it.
'It's going well and parents are really embracing it. It's taken a couple of weeks to generate the enthusiasm to get involved, but there is a real buzz round it now and so I think we'll keep it going,' says Mrs Delves.
Parents were alerted to the campaign through leaflets, posters and flyers prepared by head office, which provided campaign suggestions but also left individual nurseries to develop the scheme as they wish.
Kicking off the campaign was a survey of parents' favourite books when they were children. Predictable favourites emerged, including Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.
Staff compiled a list of the favourites, which are now being offered through a book-lending scheme in association with local libraries.
A simple book review template was also prepared and distributed to parents, which they could complete with their children.
'This has proved a brilliant way for the parents to get involved with the story and share their thoughts, and their children's, on a book,' says Kid Ease managing director Ian Atkey.
Parents receive a £1 book token for every review completed and are entered into a prize draw for a set of Julia Donaldson books.
The extent to which the campaign is really catching on was revealed last week when one nursery manager had to go to the local library in search of ten favourite books that other parents wanted to read and review with their children.
Brought to life
Nursery staff have also organised various activities linking with the parents' childhood favourites. In the case of the Bear Hunt, a parent hid a bear along a Kent coastal path one morning while walking the family dog. The children, from the Hawkinge nursery, then set off in pursuit - chanting the words of the story along the way.
For the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, the same nursery organised a tea party and invited the children to dress up for the occasion.
Parents and grandparents have taken part in storytime sessions, reading books, where possible, related to their own work - hence contributions from fireman, policeman, postman and zookeeper mums and dads, who read from Fireman Sam, Postman Pat and Dear Zoo. For a High Court judge, the choice was a Thomas the Tank Engine story, with its own local twist.
Nurseries within the chain are now developing their own reading initiatives. Hornchurch has opened a reading room, set up to encourage parents to read with their children for a few minutes either side of drop-off and pick-up times, and stocked in part with library books. The room is likely to remain a feature of the nursery provision long after the campaign has ended.
'The reading room is proving popular with parents, and more and more are finding the time to fit in reading to their children at nursery,' says Mrs Delves. 'It's been helped by enthusiasm and encouragement from the local library and parents.'
She feels it is 'difficult to generalise' about the reading patterns of parents before the campaign, but adds, 'The campaign has been a real eye-opener and is really helping to remind parents to enjoy reading with their children. As there has been so much positive feedback from the campaign, we'll probably feature another reading push later on in the year to renew enthusiasm.'
Book Ahead
Linked to the National Year of Reading and part of the Government's drive to promote a culture of reading is the Book Ahead scheme.
Under the £5m project, it is anticipated that libraries will distribute up to half a million free books to nurseries. The list of books, compiled by the School Library Association, is now available at www.bookahead.org.uk but the scheme is still in the planning stages and will be launched officially in the spring.
MORE INFORMATION
National Year of Reading: Visit www.yearofreading.org.uk
The Literacy Trust website provides NYR information and a list of the 86 NYR funded projects, including children's, men's and boys' and arts schemes. Visit www.literacytrust.org.uk
The Reading Agency site includes a calendar of readers and library events round the country. Visit www.readingagency.org.uk
Book Ahead: Visit www.bookahead.org.uk
To organise an author visit as part of your NYR celebrations, contact Class Act Agency, a booking service helping schools to find, organise and book authors, poets, storytellers and illustrators. Visit: www.classactagency.co.uk
THE NATIONAL YEAR OF READING
The 2008 National Year of Reading (NYR) aims to create a reading culture by celebrating the joy of reading and highlighting the benefits that good literacy brings to individuals, their families and society as a whole. To achieve this, Government hopes to reach hesitant and reluctant readers, parents and carers, and organisations and institutions able to influence the reading skills of both adults and children.
The NYR stems from the Government's awareness of how early exposure to books benefits learning, and from concerns about the decline in reading among children and younger people, particularly boys.
According to the PIRLS 2006 report, 41 per cent of ten-year-old girls read stories or novels every day, compared with just 23 per cent of boys, and one quarter of boys claimed to never read stories or novels out of school.
The NYR initiative will include written, spoken and sung words and reach beyond books to incorporate all types of media.
The National Literacy Trust and lead partner the Reading Agency are working with a consortium of partners to deliver the campaign at a national and local level, while some 150 reading co-ordinators in local authorities across England will work with local education, community, library and leisure services, businesses and the media to deliver NYR campaigns and events for their local communities.
A national challenge to sign up to the NYR was held in the first three months of the year, and the media launch and local authority-led campaigns will begin next month.
Employers and schools are being encouraged to participate by signing up online, though anyone can register on the campaign website to receive information on local activities.
The Government is also encouraging:
- parents to spend ten minutes a day reading with their children, no matter how young or old
- employers to make their workplace more reader-friendly by creating a mini-library or bookshelf
- schools to link with local libraries and use the website to find out more about monthly themes to inspire activities. Themes include 'Rhythm and Rhyme' - poems, poetry and lyrics (July), and 'Word of Mouth' - Storytelling, reading together and aloud, live literature (October).
To find out how you can get involved in reading events and initiatives in your local area, contact your local NYR co-ordinator, whose details are on the NYR website (go to 'What's On', then 'Professionals Zone'). Details of public events can also be uploaded on to the NYR website.