This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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First chapter of home reading campaign
13/01/2003
The first chapter of a radio and press campaign that
aims to encourage more parents to read to their children
was opened today.
Education and Young People Minister Cathy Jamieson
launched the Home Reading Initiative campaign at Arthurlie
Nursery School in Barrhead.
She said:
"Introducing your child to books at an early age is one
of the best gifts any parent can give. The reading children
do out of school is invaluable in helping them good develop
literacy skills for later life. Unfortunately not all
children have a positive experience of reading in their
early years.
"That is why I am launching a radio and press campaign
that aims to make all parents aware of the benefits that
reading at home can bring to their children. Great pleasure
and happy memories can be the result of sharing a book with
a child. Something as simple as sharing stories from the
local paper together or reading through the weekly shopping
list with your child can be the route to reading
regularly."
See enlarged images of advert at bottom of
story
A small grant scheme will provide funding to local
projects such as book sharing clubs, and to develop more
information on reading for parents and carers.
Ms Jamieson continued:
"Some parents may be unsure what to read with their
children or worry that they do not have the right books.
The small grants scheme will help set up book sharing clubs
or early reading projects, for example, in local
communities where parents can share resources and
experiences of what books their children enjoyed."
Ms Jamieson concluded:
"The world of the written word should be accessible to
children across Scotland. We all have a role to play in
giving our children the best possible start in life.
Reading books and learning from that experience is
fundamental to achieving that goal and great fun can be had
on the way."
The Scottish Executive Home Reading Initiative is a
three year campaign aimed at encouraging children to read
more out of the classroom. It is also targeting
parents/carers to take a more active role in their child's
education and to start reading with them from an early
age.
The initiative was launch by Cathy Jamieson on 10 August
2002 and, as well as the advertising campaign, comprises
of:
A leaflet for parents, published on 10 August 2002,
which gives guidance to parents of children between the
ages of 0 to eight on the benefits of home reading and some
techniques to make it a more valuable experience;
The Appointment of Reading Champions to encourage
parents, carers and children to develop the skills of
reading at home.
A small grants scheme which will make funds available
from April this year to support small local projects such
as book sharing clubs.
A Home Reading Co-ordinators, Fraser Ross Associates
appointed 11 December 2002, who will drive forward this
Initiative.
A web site which will contain more information to help
parents and ideas on
how to develop local projects to support home reading
that will be created
by the co-ordinators and will launch early this
year.
The advertising campaign will run in two bursts over the
next three months. The campaign cost £190,000.
The Home Reading Initiative small grants scheme has been
established with funds being made available from the
beginning of April. £300,000 will be made available for the
purpose of setting up new projects.
The aim of the scheme is to assist early-learning
centres, community organisations and groups and schools in
setting up projects and schemes that will help to develop
the objectives of the Home Reading Initiative.
Bids will be invited for start-up projects that aim to
develop the awareness of parents/carers; to increase access
to Home Reading facilities such as libraries; to develop
schemes such as book-sharing clubs or any for use in other
innovative ideas.
The parents leaflet, highlighting the benefits of
reading and some techniques to make it a more valuable
experience, will soon be available in Gaelic, Arabic, Urdu,
Punjabi, Cantonese and Hindi.
