Reading Matters New Website

We are really pleased to have a new website that really promotes and supports all Reading Matters activities. With details of our key services (Reading Mentors, Reading Leaders, Reading Families and Reading Teams) and downloadable resources including Fun Sheets, Case Studies, Research and Information Packs.

Take a look at www.readingmatters.org.uk, and get involved:

• Leave a comment on the blog
• See the latest updates from our Facebook page, please like us! 
• Sign up for the new Email Bulletin 
• Check out the Events Calendar

This blog has been incorporated into the new website, so in future posts will be added there. You may want to update any subscriptions you have set up.

Reading Matters on Breeze Culture Network

We are really pleased to be featured on the new Breeze Culture Network website:

We are running a series of training courses for school and setting staff in Leeds next term, so it is the perfect way to promote these; along side loads of other great events and resources.

Showcomotion Youth Jury

This afternoon Reading Matters meeting for Reading Mentors and Co-ordinators is kindly being hosted by The Showroom Cinema. 


We will be there because we have some exciting events lined up as part of the Showcomotion, Young People's Film Festival; watch this space!


In the meantime, they are looking for to recruit members of the Showcomotion Youth Jury members to watch some great films, and award the Showcomotion Jury Award for 2012.

I think it would be perfect for our Reading Leaders, but great for any young people aged 11 to 18, so why not get involved...

Book awards, competitions and festivals

I've spotted a few nice book-themed activities recently.

• Blue Peter Book Awards 2012, they are also trying yo find
• The Best Children's Book of the Last 10 Years
• BBC 500 Words story-writing competition with Chris Evans
• Schools Minister Nick Gibb's new reading competition
• Redhouse Children's Book Award, the 2012 winner will be announced at the...
• Imagine Children's Festival - 11 - 26 February - it's on now!

Lists and Comics and Graphic Novels

I recently treated myself to 1001 Comic Books: You Must Read Before You Die. I love lists, I think it's a male thing. It's given me a long list of books to read, top of that list is Habibi by Craig Thompson.
As I was reading 1001 Comic Books, the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) produced a list of the top ten graphic novels for teen readers. This is one of many YALSA list another is Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers. These top 10s have been nicely presented by the Walking Brain Cells blog.

I think graphic novels and comics are perfect for the young people we support here at Reading Matters. Bridging the two lists (graphic novels and quick picks for reluctant readers) is DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide. Again, there is something about lists that really appeals to boys. I had to buy a last minute Christmas present for a 10 year old friend. I went for LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. I am not usually a great present selector, but this one was a massive success.

I'd urge you to check out some of these lists, there's something for everyone!

New Reading Matters Office in Sheffield

Reading Matters office in Sheffield has moved. We are now at:

Reading Matters
Scotia Works
Leadmill Road
Sheffield
S1 4SE
Tel: 0114 241 2743

Please update your address books.

This new location at Scotia Works is a wonderful location next to Sheffield Railway station, with some great training spaces that would be perfect for Reading Matters training. Reading Matters specialises in one-to-one support to motivate young people to reach their potential by becoming confident and enthusiastic readers. We provide support via:

• adults as volunteer reading mentors
• young people as reading leaders
• parents and carers to help their own families
• professional staff with a responsibility for literacy

Get in touch if this sounds of interest, it would be great to hear from you.

Free Copy of First News

First News is a brilliant weekly newspaper for young people, it's perfect for our reading partnerships. Full of topical articles presented really nicely with lots of images, graphics and accessible text.


Courtesy of Sainsbury's magazine you can get a free copy.


Call 0800 665480 and quote SBFREE or text NEWS to 78070 before 31 October 2011.


Another good deal is 3 issues for £1.

Summer Reading Challenge 2011: Circus Stars

I finally got my daughter signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge. It's been running for a few weeks now through the summer holidays. We really do need to get reading!

Like last year I trained some young reading volunteers to work in libraries across Sheffield. And reports are they are really making a difference to the success of this year's Summer Reading Challenge.

This year's theme is Circus Stars. The website has some nice games, opportunities to chat and author videos, including my new friend Andy Stanton.

Get reading and get some fancy stickers!

Involve Yorkshire and Humber - Swan Lake heads only!

I have been to a couple of Involve Yorkshire and Humber events recently, their Village hall to Whitehall: local government and the voluntary and community sector conference and Learning and Skills Voluntary Sector Network meeting. Both very interesting with lots of great people in attendance. 


The Village hall to Whitehall event was at the Northern Ballet in Leeds.  The post-lunch energiser was a heads-only version of Swan Lake. And inevitably this is the photo of me they have used.


No harm in looking a bit silly; here is Kate Winslet Reading one of my favourite Mr Gum books at the Port Eliot Festival in St Germans, Cornwall.

Sheffield Poetry Festival

At the great World Book Night, I heard local authors from the MA Writing course at Sheffield Hallam University read from a their ‘Matter’ anthology and as a result found that, Fay Musselwhite's poem has been chosen by Simon Armitage for a Sheffield Poetry Prize.

Fay is one of our Reading Mentors. She is also involved in the first Sheffield Poetry Festival. She is collaborating with award winning filmmaker and taxidermist Susannah Gent to present a 30 minute performance piece called Goat Boy and Other Journeys, as part of the Sheffield Poetry Festival on Saturday 2nd April, 3pm at Bank Street Arts.

Sounds incredibly intriguing.

World Book Day 2011

Thursday 3 March 2011 is World Book Day 2011. As usual there are a fantastic array of activities and resources to get involved with. I particularly like the look of some of the £1 books available this year; in particular Dr Seuss on the Loose, S.W.I.T.C.H Bug Battle by Ali Sparkes and Traction City by Philip Reeve.

Also new is the Digi-Tale website, with some cool looking gear to be won.

I may have missed it in previous years, but there seems to be a lot more promotion of the Quick Reads programme for older readers. They too have a fine line-up of books for 2011, including Bloody Valentine by James Patterson, Trouble on the Heath by Terry Jones and Tackling Life by Charlie Oatway. Whilst browsing the Quick Reads site, I found a smart looking book Worlds Beyond Words: True Stories About the Power of Literacy, and a lovely video by one of the contributors.

Free book on World Book Night

I have been selected to be one of 20,000 givers on the first World Book Night on 5 March 2011.

I’ll have 50 copies of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon to give away. I’ll be giving them out to our wonderful Reading Mentors and School Co-ordinators, to read, share and talk about in school, but I am sure I could find a spare one for you too!

If you would like a free book I will be at Waterstone’s in Orchard Square in Sheffield on the inaugural World Book Night onSaturday 5 March 2011 from 5pm-8pm.

Waterstone's will be staying open later than usual. There will be bands playing and readings taking place to celebrate the night. There is a Costa Coffee on site that will be open too.

You can use Facebook to let me know if you'll be coming, I'll reserve you a book.

It should be fun.

Reading, Communicating, Mentoring

This week I was at the northern launch of the National Year of Communication - Hello, it was a different audience than I am used to, lots of Speech and Language Therapists and people from Early Years settings such as Children's Centres. There are some good resources on the Hello website if you want more information.

It reminded me about how reading is just once facet of communication, but also what a difference the reading partnerships we help facilitate can make to all aspects of children's lives, a sample quote;

At 11 years old only a fifth of children with significant speech, language and communication needs reach the expected levels for their age in both English and Maths

Another benefit of successful reading partnerships is the supportive relationships they help build. Reading Matters have been working with the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation to really explore this aspect of the reading partnerships.Their Supporting Life's Journeys Campaign is a great way for anyone to sign up to the the cause.

Map of The Voyage of the Silver Bream

I am currently looking for books with a local, connection. With this in mind The Voyage of the Silver Bream by Theresa Tomlinson has been a revelation. It is based in an area I know well, The Sheffield Canal and River Don. I have a bit of a thing for old industrial areas, and have spent a lot of time mooching about in those areas. The Voyage of the Silver Bream gives these locations an involving historical context.

The geographical setting feels very close to home, but so are the central themes. The family in the story are forced to adjust to new economic circumstances, as the railways take-over from the canals. I know a lot of families that are having to make similar changes today as the availability and security of jobs and education changes.

Perhaps I am feeling all too emotional, but some of the passages that describe the family pulling together really brought a tear to my eye.

I was so caught up in the book, I plotted the locations on an online map, which I have shared below. I think this is a really nice way to explore a story or factual account, especially one set in a local area or on a topic you want to explore. A good idea for a reading partnership, I think.

View The Voyage of the Silver Bream in a larger map

The Voyage of the Silver Bream by Theresa Tomlinson is part of a series called Victorian Flashbacks, there is a Victorian Flashbacks: Teachers' Guide which looks like it would provide plenty of resources to explore the stories further.

Interplay Leeds Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting 2

I said in my last post about our recent Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting at Interplay in Leeds, I would share my short presentation. So here it is:

Reading Matters Presentation - Interplay 10-12-09

My overall message was that, despite so many changes, in schools, government and at Reading Matters, the need for us to keep on improving reading skills and changing lives is as great as ever.

In fact, the week after our meeting there was a flurry of news stories about how thousands of boys start secondary school 'barely able to read', the BBC report highlighted some of Reading Matters core areas of work. For example, in Rotherham 14% of 11-year-old boys in state schools did not reach level three in their reading tests this summer, this means they were at the level expected of a seven-year-old.

It is true that 'raw data' from the controversial SATS reading tests will not provide the full story, but headlines like these indicate there are still huge numbers of children and young people in primary and secondary schools that do not have special educational needs but still need extensive support for them to reach their full potential in life.

The next part of my presentation shows that through Reading Matters Reading Mentors, Reading Leaders and other programmes, we do reach these young people with simple, targeted and effective support. In fact in the the 2009-10 academic year we supported 3768 children and young people.

The last 12 months we have won a number of awards and accolades that back this up, including the Yorkshire Forward Creating Better Future Awards 2010 and Business Link Social Enterprise Awards 2009. But even more important to me is the feedback form the schools we work in:

“The Reading Matters scheme not only improves the reading ability of all students involved, it also creates a fantastic reading culture, promoting responsibility and maturity”. Sheffield School Co-ordinator at
Firth Park Community College.

Like all everyone to continue to meet our objectives, Reading Matters is finding new and innovative ways of working and new partners such as the Summer Reading Challenge, Special Schools and Foster Carers. Having said that, we will be drawing the line at canine support.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Interplay Leeds Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting

Last Thursday (9 December 2010) we held our latest meeting for Volunteer Reading Mentors and School Co-ordinators. The first thing to say is that it was very cold and very icy, so thanks to all those people that made it along. Leeds was Frozen.
We are very grateful to Steve Byrne and all the staff at Interplay for hosting us and supplying generous amounts of much needed tea, coffee and cake. The refreshments were not the main reason for travelling to Interplay however, we were there to hear about their latest project, which has potential for Reading Matters to work along side them in schools.

Interplay have been delivering a workshop in Special Schools that is based on the short Story Spit Nolan (Creative Short Stories), author of Alfie.

The workshops provide a thrilling and engaging sensory learning experience centred around the construction of old-fashioned go-carts that feature heavily in the story.

We are hoping that as Interplay take the workshops to more schools, Reading Matters will provide Reading Mentors and/or Reading Leaders to sustain and embed the inspiration and enthusiasm generated by this exciting project.

At the same meeting I gave a short presentation about some recent developments at Reading Matters. I'll share these with you in a separate blog post very soon.

Request - Books with a local connection.

I was in Cromford at the weekend. I notice an advert for Derbyshire Reading Detectives. I checked it out and it's a fantastic project, plotting books with a Derbyshire connection on an online map.

When writing about Meet Me by the Steel Men, I suggested books with a local connection are great for use in reading partnerships.

I have a little list of Sheffield and Rotherham ideas, but I would love to hear some more. I have set-up a Discussion on Reading Matters Facebook Page for people to add their suggestions. Please come and join in!

Kelham Island Museum Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting

Today (19/10/10) we had a super meeting for Volunteer Reading Mentors in Sheffield and Rotherham at Kelham Island Museum guests of the Sheffield Industrial Museum Trust .

It was the normal opportunity to meet other Reading Mentors, collect resources and have a cup of tea. But the main attraction was an introduction by Kirsten Timms, Education Officer of Sheffield Industrial Museum Trust about the 'Changing Face of Work in Sheffield' Pods.

The pods are fantastic packages of information, archives, resources and articles from the museum's collection. They wonderfully contrast aspects of work in Sheffield over the last 200 years. They are available for schools to use and explore, especially when combined with visits to the museum.

For our Reading Mentors they introduced a new angle on reading activities (and some old favourites), and perhaps more importantly reminded us of the living history of South Yorkshire's industry, and the passion it can inspire.

The aim of the meeting was to explore the possibility of Reading Matters volunteers accompanying the pods when the go to schools, to help the staff and pupils get the most out of them and support their use with a programme of reading sessions. If you would like to take part in such a scheme, please do get in touch.

Launch of Sheffield's Year of Communication - part of the ESCAL project

Yesterday (29/4/10) I was at the launch of Sheffield's Year of Communication. Sheffield is eight months ahead of a national year of communication which will run in 2011.

Sheffield's Year of Communication is part of the ESCAL project (Every Sheffield Child Articulate and Literate by the age of 11). Reading Matters is fully engaged with ESCAL, supporting volunteer reading mentoring in schools and organising family literacy training and support programmes.

There were some very engaging speakers and workshops at the launch. I particularly enjoyed Mick Waters, president of the Curriculum Foundation. He encouraged everyone to have realistic conversations with children and young people; not adopting that classic sing-song voice when speaking to young children, or telling a pupil to do something then two minutes later asking "so, what are you doing?". He spoke about Talk Partners in the classroom, but the message is the same for Reading Matters one-to-one reading sessions; conversations are so much more powerful when the "[young people] know that their partner does not know". Young people love to tell you facts and opinions when you show you are genuinely interested.

Mick ended they day with a video, that could have been one of Reading Matters reading sessions, with an adult and a pupil reading together. By the end of the clip a host of children who started out off-camera were crowding round the two readers to get involved. As Mick said, it was the adult giving her time, attention and dedication to the children that made all the difference.

Care2Read - Sheffield Foster Carers

Yesterday I attended the last day of a Reading Matters Care2Read training course for Sheffield Foster Carers. It is the first time we have run the course with the Sheffield Fostering Service, and it was just great.

The eye-opener for me was the numbers of children the foster carers look after and the range of ages. Of the 12 carers I met, on average they look after nearly four children each, with ages from 9 months up to 16 and older.

I have one 18 month old daughter who is quite enough of a handful, and clearly dealing with foster children can will be even more complicated.

As well as looking after the children, the foster cares have a big package of training and development to handle too. I hope Reading Matters can play a part in this in the future, obviously without adding to workloads.

The foster carers on the course were full of ideas and inspiration. They will get an accreditation from the course, but I think the main outcome was some reassurance that they are already doing so much to help the children with their reading and confidence. Building activities into your daily routine in an informal way (reading road-signs, recipes, shopping lists or whatever) is just as much benefit as a big structured 'educational plan'.

Another Care2Read training course for Sheffield Foster Carers starts today I hope this will go as well as the first.