When we were young, my brother and I used to argue with our parents over
bedtime, pushing it later and later so that we could squeeze in more
stories. Beatrix Potter’s were our favourites, though my dad preferred Tom
Sawyer.
My mum and dad always read us to sleep, and when I was older, I waited to hear
their footsteps on the stairs. As soon as they were heading back down I
would flick the light on and start reading again.
My mum made reading part of our childhood. As a parent and pre-school teacher,
she gave us every chance to do well academically but – perhaps more
importantly – encouraged us to fall in love with stories so that we would
grow up keen to read for pleasure.
I’ve worked with children for a long time. As a Blue Peter presenter, I’ve
been around children a lot – and when kids can do things, they thrive. When
they can’t do things – read, for instance – it can become their identity.
That’s why I’m backing a new national mission to get all 11‑year-olds
reading well by 2025. It’s called “Read On. Get On”.
It’s backed by teachers and teaching assistants like my mum, by parents and
families, by big business and by a raft of children’s and literacy
organisations. We believe that getting children reading is our collective
responsibility as a society. It’s achievable – even for those who fall
behind.
On a recent visit to a primary school in Manchester with Save the Children, I
saw first-hand how, with the right support and encouragement, children’s
skills and abilities can be transformed.
In Manchester I met Zahra: she used to struggle with reading, was shy and
didn’t enjoy it. Thanks to Born to Read – a programme that places volunteers
with children who need extra help with reading – she has come on in leaps
and bounds. She reads twice a week with her volunteer, who encourages her to
read the stories out loud. This helps her learn to pronounce words correctly
and has made her a more competent reader, and a more confident girl in
general.
She now enjoys her reading and will pick up a book or comic by herself,
without feeling forced to do so by a parent or teacher.
Zahra is proof that reading for a few minutes a day, even if it is the back of
a cereal box, can make reading a pleasure rather than a dreaded chore.
I can’t imagine not being able to read – it’s something I take for granted,
but if I couldn’t, my day-to-day life would be a struggle. I couldn’t do the
job I love, for starters. I feel very lucky to have had a childhood peppered
with people who encouraged me to read – my family, my teachers, and even my
friends.
I am extremely proud of my mum. Walking into the village shop with her can
take a bit of time: she gets stopped by children, parents and families – all
of whom she has shared something with. She’s helped those people read.
I know how rewarding it is for her, and I can see how excited she gets when
she tells us about the way her extended family (as she sees them) has
started to learn and enjoy the world. She gets to be part of their journey –
and what can be more rewarding than that?
It’s not too late for the teacher in any of us. We can all play a role in
getting children to read well. I’m encouraging my friends and family to read
for 10 minutes a day with the children in their lives.
If we don’t rise to this challenge as a society, some 1.5 million children
will finish primary school unable to read well by 2025 – and that’s just not
good enough. This new mission gives us a chance to avert such a reading
crisis. Through “Read On. Get On” we can all be teachers.
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(via Telegraph)
