Summer update report

End of 2023-24 academic year report Prepared for you by Bookmark Reading Charity

Thank you This year’s SAT’s results saw more than 1 in 4 children leave primary school without meeting the expected government standard in reading, a trend that has continued from the 2022/23 academic year. This disproportionately impacts children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are leaving primary school on average a year behind their peers. The Education Endowment Foundation reports that only 10% of these children go on to pass their GCSE in English and Maths.

At Bookmark Reading Charity, we want every child to read. We are delighted to report that, with your support, over the last 12 months Bookmark has continued to improve children’s literacy in primary schools in disadvantaged communities by promoting a reading for pleasure culture through a variety of evidencebased programmes.

Across our one-to-one reading programme, resource provision and new interventions, Bookmark has supported over 360 schools this year to embed whole school reading cultures, benefitting tens of thousands of children. By focusing our delivery on the most disadvantaged communities, we have been able to support the children who need us most.

We are so grateful for our network of supporters who enable us to develop our initiatives and ensure we are providing the most effective literacy solutions for our partner schools and their pupils.

This report provides an overview of the last academic year, highlighting what we have been able to achieve thanks to our supporters.

Bookmark’s delivery in 2023-2024:

43,779 reading sessions delivered

2,056

children reached through one-to-one reading sessions

447,600 The Story Corner Magazines distributed

58,000+

1,455

reached with brand new books!

Early Years packs sent out

This year, our main goal was to foster a love for reading.

We distributed books throughout the classroom, and the children were thrilled to receive them. They couldn't wait to dive into their new books! The selection was diverse, catering to all types of readers, particularly those who may be hesitant to pick up a book.”

– Teacher at a Bookmark partner school in Barking and Dagenham

Making a difference This academic year, the growth of our core one-to-one and volunteer-led reading programme has seen an increased level of support received by the children we reach. Feedback from teachers at Bookmark partner schools shows that the programme has continued to help children falling behind become more confident, skilled and joyful readers.

We know that these attitudes and behaviours are crucial for a child to develop reading for pleasure, and children who enjoy reading are four times more likely to read above the expected standard for their age. Reading for pleasure is also linked to greater confidence and teachers heavily emphasise the impact this has on a pupil’s attainment, not just in literacy but across the curriculum.

Across our programmes, we use a school eligibility model that evaluates three sets of school data to ensure we reach the schools and pupils most in need of support. We look to support pupils in schools that have higher than average scores on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI), have an above average percentage of pupils who are eligible for Pupil Premium, and have below average Key Stage 2 reading levels. This ensures we’re reaching the children who need us most.

Children supported on the Bookmark reading programme Children reading with Bookmark 23/24

Last academic year your support made the following difference for children on the Bookmark reading programme:

94%

of teachers noticed an increase in reading confidence

93%

of teachers noticed an increase in reading enjoyment

99%

of teachers said Bookmark made a positive difference to pupils

75%

of teachers noticed an increase in reading skills

National Average

50%

41% 40%

37%

30%

23% 20%

20%

22,000 hours helping children become better readers. That is the equivalent to 18 years in the classroom!

10%

0%

This academic year, Bookmark volunteers have spent nearly

Pupil Premium

English as an additional language (EAL)

The children who have been involved in the Bookmark reading sessions have been making fantastic progress in their reading comprehension assessments and their fluency has improved brilliantly!"– Teacher in Spring Term 2023/24 School Survey

CASE STUDY

Bookmark is changing the story for children like Mia

At Kearsley West Primary School, one of Bookmark’s partner schools since 2022 in a deprived area of Bolton, children receiving our one-to-one reading support have made accelerated progress. This means they are making progress more quickly than those already at the age-related standard of reading, narrowing the gap between their performance and the expected standard.

Mia arrived at Kearsley West in Year 3, unable to speak English. Learning the language was difficult for Mia as both her parents spoke very little English. Mia worked hard in daily reading and phonics lessons and started Bookmark’s programme to boost her confidence.

With the help of Bookmark, Mia’s spoken English has improved and in turn her reading and writing too. When Mia started the programme, she was a whole year behind her peers in reading. Since then, she has made four terms worth of progress in only three terms. Her teacher says: “Mia has hugely grown in confidence and was today awarded class star for her huge academic and personal progress.”

Another child, Jack, was also struggling with his reading before he began Bookmark’s programme. According to his teacher, Jack was “initially a very reluctant learner and [his] mum could not get him to engage with any learning outside the immediate classroom context.” He started the year significantly behind the expected standard. He continued to fall even further behind, making only half the progress expected of him in the Autumn term.

After he began Bookmark’s reading programme in the Spring term, he made two terms worth of progress in one term, which is double the progress expected of him. His teacher says: “Jack’s attitude to his learning has improved greatly. He thrives from the personal one to one support and his confidence means that he is tackling independent activities such as homework much more effectively.”

Thank you for helping children like Mia and Jack to make progress through our reading programme. The impact this has on them is ‘almost immeasurable’, says Rebecca. *Children’s names have been changed for anonymity

Expanding into areas of high literacy need Your Story Corner This year through Your Story Corner, Bookmark has expanded into three new areas of high literacy need and low social mobility to create engaging reading spaces aimed at improving pupils’ reading motivation.

Each school that takes part in the programme receives a library pack full of £2,000 worth of resources, including 200 brand new books, Continued Professional Development (CPD) resources for teachers and engaging materials to help foster an environment for children to become confident and engaged young readers and inspire a lifelong love of reading.

Across 228 schools in Sheffield, Barking and Dagenham, and Wolverhampton, Bookmark gifted over 45,600 books! On average across all three regions:

99%

of schools reported that Your Story Corner made a positive difference to reading enjoyment

95%

of schools reported that Your Story Corner made a positive difference to in reading motivation

19%

the increased percentage of children reporting that they used the school reading space in the last 7 days

School Network Programme:

The Story Corner magazines

To build on our Your Story Corner programme, Bookmark are thrilled to have launched our School Network Programme, designed to provide further resource support to teachers and schools and help them build a sustainable reading environment.

Available to previous Your Story Corner schools that meet our eligibility criteria, schools selected will benefit from up to £1,000 worth of books over the year, plus access to teacher resources and training and networking opportunities.

Almost a million children aged five to 18 do not have a single book of their own at home, with book ownership dramatically lower amongst younger children and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In response, Bookmark delivered 447,600 copies of The Story Corner magazine this year to our partner schools and community settings such as foodbanks, warm banks and shelters. The Story Corner magazine gets reading resources directly into the hands of children and helps combat learning loss over the school holidays.

"The books are fantastic quality, up-to-date and diverse… our kids are going to love them! It’s made my day!"

- Teacher on YSC

Spotlight on our new programmes

As part of our Grants Pilot in early 2023, Bookmark was able to award over £30,000 in grants to 19 primary schools across England to support various reading for pleasure initiatives and teacher development. In total we received 700 applications for this scheme, significantly more than expected and a sign of the difficulties schools are facing with budget pressures and the cost-of-living crisis.

Bookmark’s new Literacy Partner Programme (LPP) has been designed to build on, and expand, the Grants Pilot in response to such high levels of demand.

Schools are offered an in-depth literacybased consultancy and work with Bookmark to devise a detailed action plan to deliver improvements that will transform their reading culture, together with targeted funding of up to £10,000 per school to implement that plan, over two years.

Children who struggle with language at 5 are five times more likely to be behind in reading and writing at age 11. Bookmark launched its first Story Starter programme this summer to deliver an early year’s intervention to the literacy challenge. 1,455 packs were delivered to incoming Reception pupils. Each pack contained a book of their own, stationery, family resources and literacy engagement tools including story telling cards. Delivery focused on pupils in some of the most disadvantaged areas, aiming to foster reading enjoyment and engagement ahead of their first big day, to set them up for success.

We now have our first cohort of 40 schools in England and will look to expand this to an additional 50 schools in 2024/25.

The packs were greatly received by the children. They were all pleased to receive something and loved looking inside the bag to see lots of different activities/stories, opening the pencil case, using the crayons. The finger puppets were also a big hit and the children loved trying them on. The adults were all amazed by the quality of the bags and the contents within. It made starting school that little bit more special.

- A Bookmark partner school that received a YSC pack

Looking ahead and thank you Bookmark began in 2018/19 in just three schools in Camden with our one-to-one reading programme. This year we have supported over 400 schools to embed impactful whole-school reading cultures, so that their pupils can develop the reading skills and confidence they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Over the course of 2024-25 we plan to:

Deliver 50,000 one-to-one reading sessions to children most in need of support

Expand our Your Story Corner initiative into 150 schools in three new areas with high literacy need and child deprivation - Derby, Rochdale and Hull, whilst continuing to support our previous areas through our School Network Programme

Distribute 3,000 more Story Starter packs

Onboard 50 new schools through our Literacy Partners Programme

500,000 Story Corner magazines

In order to achieve this, we plan to: 1

Evolve our volunteering opportunities so we can support more children.

2

Optimise our literacy programmes to provide more impactful and tailored support.

3

Develop and implement our whole school evaluation framework.

Thank you. In a time of shortage, it is no small thing to be given the gift of reading for pleasure”.

- Teacher at a Bookmark partner school

Thank you!

Thank you for changing the story for children in disadvantaged communities across the country with Bookmark.