Write Path. Published authors and poets write the first paragraph of a story or the first stanza of a poem online for young people around the world to continue the writing, as part of the International Collaborative Writing Project. The idea is to bring together young people... (more...)

Local strategy to improve literacy. Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council has developed a number of initiatives to improve literacy. This involves working in partnership with external agencies such as libraries, prisons and drug and alcohol services to address barriers and... (more...)

Recording stories for children.   Storybook Dads is a prison-based project that helps fathers to maintain a bond with their children while incarcerated. Prisoners record a story for their child and can edit the recording to remove mistakes or add sound effects. The project... (more...)

Engaging young people through comedy-based learning. Summary: Positive Comedy Training runs improvisation and comedy sessions with young people in schools and prisons to increase their confidence and improve their communication skills. The improvisation activities are designed... (more...)

Kent Libraries and Archives. Passport to the Library is a course to help adults with learning disabilities in Kent become confident, independent library users, contributing to their ability to lead active lives in their communities. The course is the result of a partnership... (more...)

High Lawn Primary School. This project takes blogging a step further to let children write for a wider, literally global, audience. It uses a publishing platform called Cover It Live so children, staff, parents and other schools all over the world can make contributions. As... (more...)

Interventions for Literacy. Interventions for Literacy aims to provide clear information or resources, to inform practice and choice for both parents and schools. Those choices should be guided by the range of resources and by matching the needs of the school, class or child.The... (more...)

The Manchester College – Offender Learning at HMP Askham Grange. Askham Writers is a creative writing group where women prisoners can develop their skills as poets, fiction writers, playwrights and journalists. The group wants to improve the literacy of serving prisoners... (more...)

Buddy Reading. Buddy Reading pairs an older pupil with a younger pupil to improve reading skills. Benefits include increased confidence for both readers as the older pupil acts as a role model for the younger pupil. Buddy Reading can be delivered in different settings, including... (more...)

Forest Read Easy Deal . FRED provides free 1-to-1 reading support for parents, unemployed people, ex-offenders, and older people in the Forest of Dean area. So far, the project has focused on the Cinderford area, parts of which are in the worst 10% of the most deprived areas in... (more...)

CfBT. SlamJam is a performance-based writing competition for secondary school students, aimed at raising levels of engagement in creative writing, increasing student confidence in performance, and increasing discerning listening skills. Students write poems, stories or dramatic... (more...)

The Seniores. The Seniores is a guest speaker society that improves students' conversation skills and literacy run by The Connaught School in Aldershot. Participation in The Seniores is an opportunity for pupils to have an adult forum for conversation and improves their... (more...)

Speech and Language Therapy Service. The Speech and Language Therapy Service supports young children in Hackney who have difficulty communicating to develop their language skills. Activities include group and one-to-one work. The service accepts referrals from parents, schools... (more...)

Literacy Through Broadcasting Learner Centre. The Literacy Through Broadcasting Learner Centre helps children improve their literacy skills by helping them create weekly radio broadcasts. The project is especially suited to dyslexic learners as it involves little written work... (more...)

Fit4Reading. Summary: Fit4Reading involves year 10 pupils coaching year 7 pupils to improve their reading ability from Level 3 to Level 4 by the end of the year. Sessions begin with the coach and the year 7 pupil playing sport and eating a healthy breakfast before working on the... (more...)

Crisis Skylight and World Book Night . The Crisis Skylight London and World Book Night Book Club has been running on a weekly basis since November 2012. It was originally put forward as an idea by the charity World Book Night who approached Crisis to discuss it as a concept, and... (more...)

Learning 744. The Learning 744 programme offers courses and training for people ready to go into independent living. Courses offered include sports, cooking and a Skills for Life course that provides literacy and numeracy training for pre-entry onto an employment... (more...)

On Road and SHP.   On Road has worked with London homelessness charity SHP since 2011, when they helped their staff and clients to set up the multi award-nominated blog ‘Unheard Holler’. SHP clients may have experience with addiction and/or homelessness and... (more...)

Community Learning Partnership (CLP). Family Fun with Story Sacks is an entry point in literacy for socially excluded adults in areas of disadvantage in Hertfordshire, who have complex and multiple needs within their families. It aims to break intergenerational cycles of... (more...)

Write Up Your Street. Write Up Your Street is a creative writing course designed for young offenders. The course has a focus on autobiographical writing, poetry and group reading. Some of the written pieces have been adapted as plays and performed by a local theatre company... (more...)

Words in the ‘Wood. London Leads is a week-long series of events for children from reception to year 8, which culminates in a shared exhibition of work, inviting local dignitaries, parents and children to a display of works of art, created texts, films, and slideshows from... (more...)

National Year of Reading events. Sheffield's National Year of Reading events aimed to involve as many members of the community as possible in fun reading activities. Events included book swaps, conferences and 24 Hours of Shakespeare, in which members of the public could dress... (more...)

Pyramid Club. Pyramid Club helps to boost children's self-esteem by engaging them in fun group activities. The clubs are aimed at shy and withdrawn children who, although well-behaved, may not be achieving their full potential in class due to low self-esteem. The clubs... (more...)

South Wales Valleys Literature Development Project. The South Wales Literature Development Project runs a number of literacy-based activities in south Wales to engage hard-to-reach learners. Literacy projects are run alongside recreational activities that are delivered in the... (more...)

National Football Museum. Streetspeak is a 4-year project (2008-12) engaging disadvantaged young people in writing and performing poetry - using the excitement of football as a vehicle to develop literacy skills. It is funded by the National Football Museum, the Arts Council,... (more...)

Family Man. Family Man supports prisoners who want to have a greater role in family life. The activities focus on how to be a better dad, husband or family member from prison. The course is delivered to groups and uses a number of different teaching methods such as role-play,... (more...)

Reading Champions. Reading Champions uses the motivational power of male reading role models to inspire other boys and men to read more. Schools invite boys who are influential among pupils to become Reading Champions. These Reading Champions encourage other boys to get into... (more...)

Springboard for Children. Springboard for Children supports primary school children who are struggling with literacy by providing them with specialist one-to-one tuition delivered by a mixed economy of highly trained volunteers and qualified tutors.  Our programme is... (more...)

ENABLE Plus (Enhancing Attainment in Basic Literacy). ENABLE is a school-based project that helps children become better readers. The focus of the work is on fluency, confidence and the reading of quality books. Pupils receive rewards at the end of the course and along the way... (more...)

The Connaught School. The Double Club is a collaboration between The Connaught secondary school, Connaught Leisure, Aldershot Town FC and Aldershot's Wado Dojo karate club to support primary schools and engage year 6 pupils and their parents in an hour of literacy and an hour... (more...)

Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School. This is a whole school project that lasted half a term, which started with Art Installation Week and ended with an Art and Reading Trail, to encourage a love of reading and an appreciation of art, including work created by the children... (more...)

Peterborough Environment Enrichment Project. The Peterborough Environment Enrichment Project runs sessions with young offenders as part of their court order as a way of providing meaningful reparation. Activities include amphibian and reptile conservation, allotment work,... (more...)

One-to-one reading. Yes We Can Read helps fluent readers teach non-readers to read. The scheme’s focus is on flexibility, informality and accessibility and it aims to open up reading to as many people as possible. Anyone can ‘coach’ a learner in any setting... (more...)

High School? No Problem!. This booklet is written for P7 pupils to offer support and encouragement about moving on to high school. The advice in the booklet is from circle-time sessions with P7 pupils in Fife schools. They were visited by Fife Community Mediation trainers... (more...)

That Reading Thing. Submitted by Tricia Millar, Trainer and Developer   In 1999, I met a few local boys who didn't read well enough to get a decent GCSE. They weren't illiterate; they just couldn't deal with words they'd never seen before. That set me on an interesting... (more...)

First News Challenge. The ‘First News Challenge’ was aimed at high school boys who were below their chronological reading age and in receipt of free school meals to see if it was possible to encourage them to read with family members outside of... (more...)

Springboard for Children. Springboard for Children has worked for many years supporting primary aged pupils, delivering a tailored phonics intervention applied to high quality reading, writing, speaking and listening activities.   The majority of pupils are referred... (more...)