Summer holidays are the perfect time for settling down with a good book and catching up on some quality reading.
Not even the unreliable British weather can spoil some quiet time with a book and as the holidays begin this week, Cardiff Council is encouraging parents to give their children’s literacy skills a boost by reading together.
The Council’s literacy campaign, Reading Power, is supporting Cardiff libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge: Circus Stars, as well at The Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge over the school break and will be promoting the cause at St David’s Shopping Centre on Friday July 29.
Located outside Marks and Spencer in the centre, literacy specialists from the Education Service will be on hand to offer information and advice on how best to support your child’s reading skills as well as giving out free Reading Power goodies to raise awareness of the importance of good literacy skills.
Officers from the Council’s Educational Psychology Service will be available to chat with parents and carers about paired reading with their children, encouraging them to spend time each day listening to their children read. Officers will explain how to keep a log of their progress that can be discussed at the end of the summer when the campaign returns to the city centre.
The library service’s Summer Reading Challenge for four to 12-year-olds aims to encourage children to read six books over the holidays while the Six Book Challenge is aimed at parents and also involves reading six books and filling in a reading log.
The Reading Power campaign will be back in St David’s Centre on Saturday September 3, just before the start of the new school year, when parents will be able to feed back to officers about their experiences over the summer as well as finding out about the latest events in the Reading Power campaign.
Cardiff Council’s Reading Power campaign was launched last autumn and is fronted by the Power Readers, a duo of reading superheroes who encourage parents to give their children the power to read because ‘Knowledge is Power’.
The Council recognises that literacy plays a fundamental role in people’s lives and the importance of raising standards so that everyone can fulfil their potential. Poor literacy has a dramatic effect on both an individual’s life and wider society and has been linked with an increased tendency for crime, poor educational attainment, health issues and also causes problems for business and the wider economy from skills shortages.
Since its launch, Reading Power has been making good progress and schools involved in the campaign are showing signs of improvement.
Statistics from March 2009 showed that 25 per cent of children were leaving primary school without achieving functional literacy – a reading age of 9.6 years but now, at the end of Key Stage 2, 81 per cent of children achieve functional literacy while the figure rises to 89 per cent by the end of Year 8.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “The Reading Power campaign is making excellent progress and there are always events, challenges and competitions going on to keep children interested in reading and to help parents to support their children.
“This is a great idea for children to have fun over the summer holidays while improving their literacy skills. I’d urge anyone with an interest in helping their child to improve their reading skills to pop into St David’s Centre on Friday to find out more about the campaign.”
For more information on the Reading Power campaign, visit www.cardiff.gov.uk/readingpower which provides information on how parents can help their children, containing tips and advice as well as recommending books and links to other websites that promote reading as an enjoyable pastime, as well as an essential skill.
