Six non-for-profit organisations in Greater London that help children think of themselves as readers and writers, who have a voice, have been selected as part of our Young People and Education Programme’s ongoing Literacy & Oracy Special Initiative. Each organisation will receive grants of up to £300,000, payable over a four-year period up to 2028.
Successful grantees demonstrated how their interventions would focus on children aged 5 – 11 years old facing socio-economic disadvantage to achieve the following outcomes:
- Improved social and emotional skills
- Increased ability to engage with school
- Higher attainment and improved life chances
The six successful grantees and projects supported are:
Action for Refugees in Lewisham: Developing English literacy levels in reading, writing, speaking and listening to increase enjoyment in learning for vulnerable refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children.
Create Arts: Professional artists that link creative art forms and literature to support children with SEND and CPD for staff in SEND schools, to develop and increase reading and writing for pleasure.
Intergenerational Music Making: Using evidence-based music therapy, community arts and teacher CPD to increase children’s literacy and oracy skills.
Ministry of Stories: Delivering bespoke creative reading and writing workshops and CPD to schools in Hackney to improve creative writing, literacy and oracy skills, wellbeing and confidence.
Read for Good: Child-led oral story-making workshops and storytelling sessions delivered by in-house professional storytellers in London hospitals. To develop children as readers, increase oracy skills and improve social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Reading Agency: Delivering programmes in primary schools and libraries to increase confidence in speaking across different contexts and increased reading and writing enjoyment.
Phase 2, Cohort 2 of our Literacy & Oracy Special Initiative will be funded through the St Pauls Schools’ Foundation, a charity of which the Mercers’ Company is trustee. The Learning Partner for Phase 2 is The Open University.
Read more about our Young People & Education programme here.