This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Funding for home reading projects
07/10/2005
Over 300 Scottish schools, nurseries and community groups are set to get home reading projects off the ground - thanks to a cash injection from the Home Reading Initiative Small Grants Scheme.
The groups, who all applied for a share of the £300,000 worth of grants to support reading projects as part of Read Together!, the Executive's home reading initiative, have all demonstrated that their particular schemes are sustainable. They will encourage parents and carers to read with their children in the home from a very early stage.
The Executive is also distributing a new interactive CD-Rom to nurseries and libraries throughout Scotland. The CD, entitled Read Together! Open the door to reading with your child!, augments the well-established Read Together! website and aims to answer some of the many questions parents and carers may have about reading with their children.
The CD-Rom, designed to appeal to children and adults, contains information, advice and games for parents and children to enjoy together.
Speaking on National Bookstart Day, Education Minister Peter Peacock said:
"It's great that so many applications were received for the extra funding which we made available to enable some of these small, but important, projects get off the ground.
"There are some really interesting schemes planned throughout all areas of Scotland from the creation of 'story sacks', which encourage the whole family to become involved in reading in the Borders, to the setting up of an English and Gaelic reading room for use by playgroup, primary school children and parents in the Western Isles.
"We know that some of the most enjoyable and rewarding time parents and carers spend with their children is when they are reading together. The range of applications clearly shows parents and carers are ready and willing to actively help their children learn to love reading - and to become more involved in developing their child's literacy skills."
The small grants scheme provides start-up costs for sustainable projects that encourage home reading. Staff costs, travel and subsistence are not funded.
The Home Reading Initiative, Read Together, encourages parents and carers to read with their child from a very early stage. The website ( www.readtogether.co.uk) offers ideas about reading and recommended books, alongside encouragement from Reading Champions of all ages, from all over Scotland.
The Executive's Home Reading Initiative Small Grants Scheme was this year administred by Learning and Teaching Scotland.
Examples of projects:
- Western Isles - Sgoil an lochdair - The English and Gaelic Reading Room to provide a resource for primary school and playgroup aged children. A parents' reading group will be set up. Books in Gaelic and English will be bought to help develop reading for enjoyment and for information. Pupils and parents will be involved in organising reading sessions/ book fairs.
- North Lanarkshire - Catalyst. The development of a teenage fiction group within every school in North Lanarkshire. Each group will aim to develop the reading of pupils at S3/4 stage who may have lost interest in reading. Parents will be encouraged to support the children as they complete home tasks. A programme of activities will run including book reviews in the Catalyst newsletter.
- Falkirk Council - Greenhill resource Centre - Freddy Frogs Read it Book Club. A book club for children and parents. Freddy Frog loves to read - and each week Freddy is stamped on the child's progress sheet. As the children collect stamps they receive prizes (for example 10 stamps - a bookmark). The club encourages reading at home, self development and strengthening of family relationships.
- Scottish Borders - Castlegait Nursery. Story Sacks containing a range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and talking books for the whole family to share and get involved with activities.
Research into the Read Together advertising campaign showed that 85 per cent of those surveyed thought the campaign had made them think more about the value of reading with their children, while 56 per cent said it had encouraged them to read more with their children.