One in four disadvantaged children across the UK has fewer than ten books of their own at home, and one in eight has none.
Book ownership has been directly linked with improved mental health amongst children and a greater propensity to read for pleasure, whilst reading fluency itself has a significant impact on children’s successful progression through education.
That’s why we want to say a BIG thank you to parents, staff and pupils at Thomas’s School Battersea for their donation of more than 2,000 pre-loved books. We are grateful for the generosity of Thomas’ community and a fantastic parent led team who managed to sort them out. A stunning total of 2,100 pre-loved books were recently collected and delivered to us here at Battersea High Street.
The young people who attend our Love to Learn Clubs were able to choose as many books as they could to take home and enjoy. The learning mentoring team selected books for some of their mentees and the ESOL (English) team selected some books for their crèche. We also invited some of our charity partners, including Caius House and St Peter’s Church to select books for their young people. The remaining books were taken to the Children’s Book Project – a charity who’s aim is to tackle the attainment gap arising from low book ownership.
Thank you Thomas’s for this amazing contribution, a great example of the Battersea community coming together to support each other!