O’Dowd Encourages Parents To Help Their Children Discover Joy Of Reading

Reading is not just a vital skill – it can open up a world of fun, imagination and learning for children and young people. That was the message from Education Minister John O’Dowd as he helped distribute Bookstart Treasure Packs to nursery school children and their parents today. The Department of Education has been providing funding to the Bookstart Programme for 10 years and this year £250,000 has been allocated which will enable Bookstart Baby and Bookstart Treasure packs to be gifted to over 50,000 children and their families. The packs will be distributed to all nursery schools, nursery units and pre-school providers over the next two months. Speaking at the launch of this year’s programme, the Minister said: “I often talk about how important reading and writing skills are for our young people – for learning, future job prospects and in our everyday lives. “But reading is something children should enjoy and want to do. It has been shown that children who read for pleasure perform better than those who don’t. Reading can be great fun. Books, nursery rhymes, whatever it happens to be, are great ways of fuelling a young child’s imagination. “Yesterday saw the start of Children’s Book Week 2013 which is also promoted by Booktrust. This is another excellent initiative that celebrates reading for pleasure. I would encourage our primary schools to engage with this initiative for the benefit of their pupils’ literacy skills.”  The Minister added: “The work being done by Booktrust complements the initiatives and policies put in place by my Department to raise standards and tackle educational inequalities and underachievement. “One of these key initiatives is the Education Works campaign which aims to show parents and families that doing some simple things can help their child to do better at school. “Parental involvement from early in a child’s life can have benefits much later on. For example, a study of 15 year olds showed that those whose parents had read to them often in P1 did much better at school than those whose parents did not. The second year of the campaign has recently launched and this time we are also encouraging other family members to support parents in this vital piece of work.  “The Treasure pack, which is being gifted to all pre-school pupils over the next few weeks, is an excellent resource that parents, or perhaps grandparents or other family members, can use to read with the children in their care.  “This year the pack also includes a leaflet about the Education Works campaign. I would encourage parents and families to get involved in their child’s education. The message is simple – you really can make a difference.”