Essex Year of Reading celebrates more than 12 months of fun author visits, storytelling sessions, book swaps and partnerships between young and old to inspire a lifelong love of reading. While leading mathematician and presenter, Bobby Seagull flies in to launch the start of another epic 12 months with Essex Year of Numbers.
Essex is celebrating more than 12 months of exciting author visits, story-telling sessions, book swaps, improvements in pupils’ reading levels and the lasting legacy of the Essex Year of Reading campaign.
Last year, the £1million Essex Year of Reading campaign funded by Essex County Council and created by the Essex Education Taskforce, launched to address the impact Covid-19 has had on young people’s education.
Since then, the campaign has reached every corner of the county with:
fun author visits to local schools from TV presenter Dermot O’Leary and top poet and author, Michael Rosen
the launch of a new app which has been downloaded many times and remains available to download for free from the App Store and Google Play
storytelling sessions with local heroes, such as a zookeeper from Colchester Zoo and an Essex firefighter
book swap stalls in schools for children to swap reading material
a fun challenge to read in unusual places across the county
fun storytelling and poetry competitions the campaigns that have engaged people aged 4 to 87!
the creation of a new book to celebrate the legacy of the campaign and the impact it has had
The campaign has ensured that all pupils have free access to books by giving Primary School pupils a free library card. More than 160,000 cards having been distributed via schools, libraries, and community venues, and a library card has been given out alongside the offer of every school place.
The power of words also came to life with a pioneering new scheme to bring together young children and older people with dementia. The aim has been to support children’s reading and writing, with primary schoolchildren and the elderly became pen pals and reading partners.
Key Highlights from the campaign and a look ahead to the Essex Year of Numbers were shared at a special celebration event at Chelmsford Racecourse today (Wednesday 17 May).
Commenting on the campaign’s success and legacy, Cllr Tony Ball, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability said: “I am so proud of The Essex Year of Reading, it’s been a standout campaign in so many ways. It has brought communities together to support their young people and there have been so many opportunities for children to become confident readers, from school interventions to community events, plus the launch of a free app for families and teachers to download and use every day.”
He continued: “It’s been a real pleasure to see so many children, young people, parents and carers engage in fun rhymes, and rap, plus storytelling sessions at events across the county. I’m also really pleased to report excellent results from the school interventions put in place. We believe everyone deserves the chance to thrive and the Essex Year of Reading, and our support for the new £1.5 million Essex Year of Numbers, is key in ensuring this happens.”
Among many other opportunities, the Essex Year of Reading funded support for 100 primary and secondary schools to take part in the ‘Reading Fluency Project’. This saw Key Stage Two pupils’ comprehension age soar by an average of two years and two months.
The campaign also funded the ‘Thinking Reading Programme’ a training programme for teachers to help pupils in secondary education whose reading age is two or more years below their expected age.
Six schools are now fully trained to deliver the programme, which is already seeing good results, for every half hour session, on average, a pupil develops two months of reading age and their confidence in reading improves.
To continue in the footsteps of the Essex Year of Reading, leading mathematician and TV presenter, Bobby Seagull joined councillors and headteachers today at the launch event for Essex Year of Numbers.
The Essex Year of Numbers is a new £1.5 million countywide initiative funded by Essex County Council and created by the Essex Education Task Force. The campaign picks up where the Essex Year of Reading left off by continuing to inspire a lifelong love of learning, with a focus on numeracy.
Roy Blatchford, Chair of the Essex Education Task Force, explains: “This campaign wants to create a culture shift, shining a spotlight on mathematics, its importance, but also as an accessible and fun learning experience for young and old. We want people to stop thinking they’re ‘not a numbers person’, realise how we use maths in our everyday lives and enable children and parents to be positive about maths.”
The Essex Year of Numbers will offer a wide range of learning opportunities to help schoolchildren get to grips with numbers and realise numeracy is just as important as literacy. The activity will be focused on levelling up areas and disadvantaged pupils, research reveals a link between low numeracy skills and poor outcomes for adults, such as debt, unemployment fraud and poor health.
Bobby Seagull, Maths teacher, podcast host, TV presenter and author, is keen to support Essex Year of Numbers and make maths accessible and fun. He says: “We all use numbers daily, whether it’s telling the time, cooking, reading a timetable or managing budgets, it’s a vital skill. I’m excited to be supporting the Essex Year of Numbers. Maths is fun, let’s all work together to engage with our young people and ensure they can achieve their potential.”
More details about Essex Year of Numbers and how to get involved will be shared shortly.
