World Book Day 2024
This World Book Day, we’re promoting a love of reading!
Every year, our academies take part in different ways. From dressing up as their favourite fictional characters, to hosting a ‘book at bedtime event’ - dressed in pyjamas, with hot chocolate and marshmallow treats.
This year we’ve partnered with the Children’s Book Project to help provide access to brilliant books for primary pupils in our Trust. The Children’s Book Project is a registered charity that redistributes thousands of new and gently used books to children across the UK.
Regional Community Development Manager for Bradford, Julie Lloyd, initially contacted the Children's Book Project to provide books for our academies in Bradford. Moving forward, the Children's Book Project will continue to provide more books for our academies!
“Thousands of children grow up in homes with very few books of their own, sometimes none at all. They have fewer opportunities to lose themselves in a story, for shared reading with a parent and to discover the world.”
Primary academies; Co-op Academy Parkland and Co-op Academy Beckfield have received a total of 890 books, plus books for younger siblings. The children can choose two books each to take home to help develop a love of reading.
This year, the children will also be taking home a book about iconic women, so each primary can celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March!
We’re thrilled to be working with the Children’s Book Project and intend to continue to develop this partnership to support other academies in our Trust moving forwards.
Laura Thompson, Leeds Regional Coordinator at the charity, said:
“Book poverty has a measurable impact on children’s social and emotional development, as well as their education outcomes. Our mission is to give children the chance to lose themselves in a book, to share stories with their wider family and to be inspired by the illustrations within. Books can make amazing things happen: vocabulary expands, empathy grows, imaginations are ignited and children learn. Being able to provide Co-op Academies in Leeds and Bradford has been a great way of expanding our reach nationally, and providing more children with books to read and cherish.”