For many years The Children’s Literacy Charity has been making a significant difference to the lives of thousands of young people. For us, the ability to read and write is a fundamental human right that can transform a child’s life, enabling them to reach their full potential.
Our specially-trained literacy tutors have always worked with the most disadvantaged children in society to help them close their literacy gap.
Over the years, many organisations have supported the drive for better literacy, whether through highly-regarded volunteer-led reading programmes or top level campaigning work. We have differed because we have employed our own specialist tutors who help children to catch up across the entire range of literacy skills (reading, comprehension, writing, speaking and listening).
Since our founding in 1992, we have have worked closely with schools and communities in areas of educational and economic deprivation to identify those children who have the greatest need and who will benefit most from our expertise.
Our support in schools has developed and is provided through our one-to-one, and now our one-to-three, literacy interventions which take place twice a week in our Literacy and Reading Labs. These interventions are delivered by our expert tutors using a multi-sensory, phonics-based programme tailored to meet the individual child’s needs. We place a strong emphasis on creating a nurturing, safe environment which allows children to tackle new challenges. As a child gains confidence with learning, they build resilience, their expectations of themselves are raised and their belief in a positive future is strengthened.
The University of Sheffield identified our intervention as offering a ‘gold standard in the provision of theoretically-informed phonics instruction’ delivered with ‘reliability and efficiency’.
We have also developed a Reader Leader mentoring programme which we have successfully run in secondary schools for many years and have now expanded into primary schools.
In addition, we have a strong focus on community cohesion, developing parental engagement programmes with schools as well as ensuring our approach and resources are fully inclusive and reflective of local communities.
From humble beginnings in one South London school we have grown to become a much respected and critical resource in the lives of many families and schools. Our focus was and remains to support those children who are at the greatest risk of being left behind. We believe our work is now needed more than ever and we look forward to helping many more children succeed in closing their literacy gap and broadening their horizons.
To find out more about how you can help more children benefit from our life changing work, click here