Cheltenham granted ACE funding to expand reading programme

Cheltenham Festivals has received a grant of £127,608 from Arts Council England to expand its www.thebookseller.com/news/cheltenham-rolls-out-teachers-reading-network-nationwide-973236">Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils programme over the next three years. 

Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils is a network of reading groups and was set up to ignite a love of reading in teachers and children. The funding will enable the festival to set up eight more hubs in all four countries of the UK and reach nearly 29,000 children, said the festival.

Ali Mawle, education director at Cheltenham Festivals, said: “Research demonstrates that reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success. Thanks to our funders and partners, within three years every teacher in the country will be able to participate in Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils – meaning that potentially every child will have the door opened to reading for pleasure.”

Reading Teachers=Reading Pupils is supported by the Thirty Percy Foundation, The Summerfield Charitable Trust, The Unwin Charitable Trust.

In March the festival announced a Reading Teachers=Reading Pupils partnership with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education in London, Just Imagine in Essex, Peters in Birmingham and Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle.