Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services examining the impact of the library service’s annual summer reading scheme and outlining the programme for 2015.  The Commission is recommended to:-

a)    Note the success of the partnership approach, particularly with Libraries and Whatever It Takes (WiT) in the promotion of the enjoyment of reading amongst Leicester’s children and young people;

b)    Note the success of the scheme at a regional level through the annual summer reading scheme; and

c)    Support the experimental approach being taken in 2015, aimed at encouraging more boys and vulnerable readers to join in.

The Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report examining the impact of the library service’s annual summer reading scheme and outlining the programme for 2015.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services introduced the report, explaining that:-

·           It was recognised that children’s reading abilities could diminish over the summer break.  However, teachers were noticing a difference in children’s reading levels as a result of the scheme, as they needed less time to recover their skills at the start of an academic year;

·           Through the partnerships established, thousands of children were involved in the summer reading scheme and many finished the programme;

·           The Summer 2015 scheme would be slightly different to previous ones, as it would involve adults and children; and

·           The theme for the Summer 2015 scheme would be the Guiness Book of Records and would particularly target reluctant readers and increasing the number of boys participating.

The Commission expressed the hope that the scheme would receive good media coverage.  Councillor Russell, (Assistant Mayor with responsibility for Neighbourhood Services), confirmed that the Leicester Mercury was invited to a number of the scheme’s events and usually reported on them, including photographs of participants.  Other means of promoting the scheme also were used, such as the Book News newsletter, to promote the scheme to the widest cross-section of the community possible.

The Assistant Mayor further advised that:-

o    43% of those completing the scheme were boys, whose literacy results tended to be behind those of girls;

o    It was hoped that improving reading skills could help improve overall educational attainment;

o    This year, it was hoped that the scheme would engage more with high schools; and

o    One of the city’s special schools would be participating this year.

Members suggested that it could be useful to include promotional material in children’s school book bags towards the end of the summer term, as this did not appear to have been done in previous years.  This material could emphasise that the scheme was free to attend.  The Assistant Mayor agreed that this could be investigated. 

It also was proposed that work would be done with children in schools towards the end of the school summer term to encourage them to sign up for a library ticket.  This would include a Golden Ticket competition, through which children taking their first books out of a library would be entered in to a draw to win a family day out.  Community librarians in some areas also took groups of children to a library to show them how it worked.

The Commission welcomed the scheme, particularly endorsing the involvement of adults, as children’s participation could be a problem if they had to rely on being taken to a library by an adult.  The Assistant Mayor recognised that this could lead to the exclusion of some children from the scheme.

RESOLVED:

That the Head of Neighbourhood Services be asked to consider whether promotional material for the Summer 2015 reading scheme can be sent home from schools in eligible children’s book bags, this material to emphasise that the scheme is free to attend.