Despite the pandemic restrictions, LTR was able to give away a free book to 2,557 pupils in most of the early years settings across Ipswich in the last 5 months. Given the impact of the Covid restrictions on children and their long-suffering parents, we decided that we would give books to every year-group in nurseries, mainly in the disadvantaged areas of the town. Most of these gifts…

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At short notice, in June, LTR was asked by Suffolk County Council to put together book-bags and associated activities for 933 disadvantaged children across Suffolk. Despite a very short timescale of a few weeks and the restrictions of lock-down, the team was…

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An initiative set up to support disadvantaged families during the Covid-19 pandemic is gearing up to deliver hundreds of books to children across Ipswich this month, thanks to the generosity of a local reading charity and an education consultancy. The Community Shelf project will deliver more than 400 books donated by Let’s Talk Reading and Greenfields Education, an education consultancy based in…

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Between April and December 2019, LTR has partnered with 7 Ipswich school to investigate the impact of some conditions which may inhibit children's reading abilities and perhaps affect their behaviours. There are many conditions to be considered, but for this particular trial, LTR focused on Retained Primitive Reflexes with expert partners, the Multi-Sensory Training Centre. So far, results have been analysed for one primary school, Castle Hill Primary Academy, which show significant potential benefits to reading age improvement, plus improvements to pupil concentration and behaviours for learning. This article will be updated…

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LTR met recently with key staff from Citizens Advice Bureau to link its activities to the Social Prescribing initiative being rolled out across Ipswich. CAB has taken responsibility for linking every doctor's surgery in Ipswich to organisations which can provide patients with non-medical help. LTR has been particularly keen to link surgeries to the services provided by Read Easy Ipswich and Suffolk Babies. Recognising that 8,000 people in Ipswich will struggle to read medical instructions and forms, and will probably be depressed by the impact of their lack of reading skills, it seems essential that surgeries, via CAB, can sign-post such patients to the coaching services of Read Easy Ipswich. Similarly, if we are to encourage all new parents to read/sing/talk with…

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Children today read less frequently than any previous generation and enjoy reading less than young people did in the past, according to new research. The work, to be published by the National Literacy Trust in the run-up to World Book Day on Thursday, shows that in 2019 just 26% of under-18s spent some time each day reading. This is the lowest daily level recorded since the charity first surveyed children’s reading habits in 2005. It also found that fewer children enjoy reading, and that this dwindled with age: nearly twice as many five to eight-year-olds as 14 to 16-year-olds said they took pleasure from reading. Overall, just 53% of children said they enjoyed reading “very much”…

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