Free Sessions on Offer to Ignite Children’s Passion for Books and Stories

York St John University is offering a series of free sessions to support parents, carers and children to read and share stories together, and foster a love of reading and creative writing.

The new programmes aim to foster a love of books and stories by teaching creative ways of engaging in reading and creative writing at home.  

Research shows that families engaging creatively in literacy together is highly beneficial, both in terms of developing children’s literacy skills and in terms of fostering positive wellbeing across the generations.  

However, as children grow up with digital devices at hand, latest findings from the National Literacy Trust show fewer than half of children and young people (8 to 18) say they enjoy reading. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 2005.  

With this in mind, academics have set up the Creative Literacies Hub at York St John Communities Centre. Two after school programmes are on offer, completely free of charge. Each programme will have six sessions, led by highly experienced teachers and researchers from York St John University.  

• The first programme, Supporting Reading at Home, starts at the end of October and will give parents, carers and children aged 5 to 11 experience of approaching a range of books in different and creative ways. This runs weekly from Tuesday 22 October to Tuesday 3 December (excluding school holidays). 

• The second programme, Creative Writing Together, will see parents, carers and children aged 7 to 14 co-creating settings, characters, and plots, and writing from different points of view within their imagined story-world – stories that will published in a special anthology. This runs weekly from Tuesday 7 January to Tuesday 11 February. 

Tom Dobson, Professor of Education, York St John University said: 

“Whilst schools often offer literacy support for parents and carers, they often do not have the resources to offer a sustained programme of activities. Equally, for some families, the school may not be the most conducive environment for learning together.   

“The programmes aim to increase enjoyment of literacy at home, to offer parents and carers ways of approaching reading and creative writing with their children at home, and to foster positive wellbeing within families. The research shows that this, in turn, is highly likely to have a positive impact on children’s enjoyment of and attainment in literacy at school.” 

The Creative Literacies Hub is a completely free service which welcomes parents, carers, and their children, who would like to learn effective ways of approaching reading and creative writing.  

Find out more on the York St John University website https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/working-with-the-community/communities-centre/children-and-young-people/ 

Or download the Creative Literacies Hub leaflet: Creative Literacies Hub leaflet (PDF, 1.5 MB)