Tens of thousands of pounds sent to schools in Wales as part of £ 5million scheme to improve reading

Tens of thousands of pounds are being sent to schools in Wales as part of a £ 5million scheme to improve reading.

The program will help improve key reading and speaking skills from an early age, the Welsh government said.

Announcing additional funding for the reading program, Education Minister Jeremy Miles said it would equate to giving every schoolboy a book and add to a targeted reading support program focused on early childhoods. years and disadvantaged students.

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The program aims to generate enthusiasm for reading, to help develop oral skills and general educational attainment.

It will include an additional 72,000 books for children of school age in Wales, 3,600 letterbox kits, books and staff training and a 50-book box for each public school in Wales. Wales.

The minister also confirmed a set of measures, including:

• Work with teacher training providers and school improvement consortia to conduct an offer review to ensure practitioners get high quality support across Wales
• The national network – a practitioner-led organization to help schools implement the new curriculum – will prioritize reading and speaking in the spring. This will “facilitate high quality teaching and consider the role of phonetics in the new curriculum”
• Development of a ‘toolbox’ to help teachers develop classroom practice
• A review of language screening tools, undertaken by Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Bristol Speech-Language Pathology Research Unit, to help practitioners identify problems with listening, comprehension and speaking.

The Minister said: “Speaking, listening and reading skills play a fundamental role in our everyday life.

“If we are to close the achievement gap between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, then improving reading skills is vital.

“We need to spark a passion for reading in children from an early age to give them the habits and skills they will need later in life.

“Reading is essential to ensure that learners have every opportunity to access the full scope of the new Wales curriculum, the goals of which are underpinned by improving literacy and orality in young learners. “

He added: “I am delighted to be able to demonstrate the importance of life changing books, reading and speaking by providing a book for every child and young person in Wales, as well as funding more. books in schools and families.

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