MP Steve Barclay’s annual literacy campaign is fully booked across North East Cambs
Local MP Steve Barclay is about to present every year 4 child in his constituency with a book to help kick start their summer reading.
With the support of the Fenland Citizen and a huge range of businesses and organisations the Health Secretary will ensure reading is alive and well in households across North East Cambs when the six weeks holidays get underway.
Now in its eighth year the Read to Succeed campaign is one the MP feels passionately about after learning that many children within the constituency don’t own a single book.
So over the past seven years he has given away over 15,000 books to Year 4 children to take home and enjoy and to help improve literacy.
This year the books which will go out to schools in the next few weeks have been chosen by the Norfolk Children’s Booke Centre and include a range of sporty-based books such as ‘The Unlucky Eleven’ by Phil Earle.
In total Steve with the help of businesses and the Citizen has raised enough money to hand out 1,550 books and that includes Year 4 pupils at both the special schools in his constituency, Meadowgate Academy in Wisbech and Highfields School in Ely.
Steve hopes the books will inspire pupils to get involved in the Summer Reading Challenge run through all the local libraries to encourage children to test out different books and generally be inspired to have a love of reading that will last a life-time.
He said: “Last year 61% of pupils that started the Summer Reading Challenged completed it – up from 47% the previous year. That’s a huge increase and I hope it will improve again this year.”
Each year, the campaign has the backing of teachers, businesses, town and district councils, community groups and the Bishop of Ely. Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group which owns and manages thousands of homes across North East Cambridgeshire, has supported Read to Succeed for the last five years. This year, it donated a further £3,000 towards the campaign.
Steve explained the campaign is geared towards Year 4 pupils because that is often when children begin to read more independently – aged eight or nine.
