It’s especially important that children are given the opportunity to express themselves openly, as well as respect and listen to those around them – and we’ve found that literature and shared reading sessions provide a particularly effective outlet for these things to happen. Quite spectacularly as a result of engaging in shared reading 89% of children in schools across Liverpool said that they were more confident discussing their ideas and opinions as a part of being in a group.

Even more encouraging is the fact that 96% of children agreed that they were more understanding towards the ideas and opinions of other people as a result of shared reading. Absolutely wonderful findings, showing that reading isn’t just about academic education - but emotional development too.

From Pip to Potter: Celebrating the Place of Children in Care in Literature will take an insightful look at the representation of cared for children in a range of well-loved literature – some of the best loved literary characters are children who are living away from home (Peter Pan, Harry Potter, Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy) and an esteemed panel, including representatives from The Reader Organisation, will gather to discuss these cared-for heroes in the context of a system where children in care can experience stigma.

Poet Lemn Sissay, who has personal experience of the care system, will lead the discussion, and will be joined by Rose Griffiths, founder of The Letterbox Club and poet Caroline Bird who will be representing the work of First Story, which fosters creativity, literacy and talent in hard-to-reach young people.

The Reader Organisation can testify to the significance of reading with looked-after children, and this stimulating event promises to highlight the importance of literature in the lives of cared-for children.

From Pip To Potter: Celebrating the Place of Children in Care in Literature
Sunday 19th February, 5pm, Level 5 Function Room
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

The event is free but requires a ticket and a small booking charge will apply. You can reserve your ticket online on the Southbank Centre website (£1.75 transaction fee) or by phone on 0844 847 9910 (£2.75 transaction fee). You can also book your ticket without transaction fees by visiting one of the Southbank Centre’s ticketing offices in person.

As the nights were drawing in before Christmas I read the poem The Night is Darkening Round Me with several of the young people I read with. We loved it as a really atmospheric poem – the descriptions of the dark, wild weather are both exciting and menacing:

I enjoyed reading this poem and feeling the contrast between the wild descriptions and the forceful, insistent repetition: “I cannot go.”

There are so many possibilities to explore from this poem. The different ideas we had about where the person is were interesting and quite contentious! I imagine they are standing outside and unable to go home. A 12year old girl disagreed, saying she thought the person was stuck at home, safe, but unable to go where she needs to. A 14 year old lad suggested:

“it’s a ghost – they don’t feel the weather – but something means they’re stuck haunting that place.”

We tried to work out why the person might be unable to move: are they scared? Are they lost? Do they just love that spot? It conveys a very peculiar but particular state of mind, which is difficult to define and explain.

As well as exploring many possible stories behind the poem, some young people also recognised their own more strange experiences. A girl told me:

“thats like me, maybe something happened or they saw something then focussed on it and zoned out from everything else around.”

The Night Is Darkening Round Me

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me:
I will not, cannot go.

Emily Bronte

As part of their reading sessions, children in three Liverpool schools we’ve been working in have been discovering the connection between literature and life. In our recent evaluation, 76% of children said that they can relate their life to things they’ve read in books more readily as a result of taking part in sessions.

Our recent evaluation of reading sessions in Liverpool schools has revealed that 80% of children questioned agreed that reading helped them to relax. This is great news – and shows another aspect of reading that is so beneficial to children’s lives.

We have found that engaging in regular shared reading sessions not only makes kids want to read more often but also inspires them to widen their reading horizons – when questioned, 86% of children taking part in shared reading sessions in Liverpool schools said that they enjoyed reading stories and poems that they wouldn’t have normally chosen to read if they were doing so by themselves. Shared reading definitely helps to bring a good variety of literature into children’s personal reading selections.

Our recent evaluation into Get Into Reading in Liverpool schools has brought forth some wonderful results which show that shared reading has a significant impact on children, boosting their enthusiasm for books. A staggering 98% of children said that they enjoyed shared reading sessions – very encouraging for bolstering a passion for reading amongst kids.

Santa Zoe and her little helpers

But don’t just take my word for it, here’s a testimony from our Wirral apprentice – and our youngest member of staff – Eamee Boden:

Completing the Santa Dash was such a good feeling. Being one of thousands of red and blue Santas it was great to be a part of that crowd, even though it was really windy, hail stoning and raining. It didn’t bother anyone about the rain as they were either raising money for a charity (like we were), or in memory of a loved one. The fact that everybody wanted to be a part of it was amazing and doing such a good thing kept people going despite the terrible weather conditions. Just before going up and across the flyover I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were there. I couldn’t get over the fact that supporters were standing on the pavements cheering complete strangers on. There was one guy who stood on a balcony holding a big sign post with the words ‘Santa is an Evertonian’. I don’t know about the reds but this certainly did please a lot of blues (including myself ) , and people were looking up to and agreeing with him.

At the finishing point - with the real Santa?

When the race was over, it was an achievement that felt really good. I felt pleased and proud not only of myself but for our team, we worked hard and we pulled it off together.

Thank you for supporting us as we raised a whopping £1,010! A very big giant, huge, massive, ginormous thank you to everybody. However, if you were meaning to donate and forgot to get around to it you could still donate to this cause here in hindsight – Thank you all and see you next year for more Santa Dashing goodness.

Getting in some last minute training

All of the training, blood, sweat and (hopefully not too many) tears is in aid of helping to continue to support the looked-after children we read with and in particular, to give them a wonderful adventure holiday to remember. Our final Santa Dash 2011 report comes from Young Person’s Project Worker and member of the Blue team Anna, who explains the reasons why our Red and Blue Santas are taking part:

I am a project worker in Liverpool on the Looked After Children project. I read one to one with 10 young people aged between 8 and 16 in their various foster placements.

They can be a tough crowd. Many have very poor concentration, and find sitting and listening to a story for 5 minutes (let alone an hour) a challenge. They often also have low self esteem. This lack of confidence means many are unwilling to read aloud and find it difficult to open up and chat about what we’re reading according to the GIR model. Control is also an issue, as every carer tells me. Looked-after children have never had any control over the biggest, most distressing aspects of their life (such as who they can live with), and as a result many try to control the smallest of things to compensate. In a one-to-one reading session this can be particularly difficult if the young person has little interest in reading! Along with all of this, every young person has many complicated psychological and emotional difficulties flying around their heads that they need to learn to understand and cope with. Behaviourally this can be presented with anxiety, aggression, being withdrawn or hyper-active.

With all of this it is understandable that school and relationships with friends and family can be extremely hard for these young people to manage.

I feel really privileged to be able to work with the young people I meet in such a positive way. Whilst it can be very tough to get them to engage with the reading session, it is wonderful to be able to value every contribution they make. By placing no pressure on each young person, gradually they respond to the sessions with more enthusiasm and interest. As a one-to-one session, it gives them the chance to pursue their individual interests and develop their own approach to understanding and enjoying stories and poetry.

It is wonderful when the moment happens, and the young person ‘discovers’ reading. This has taken anything between 2 weeks and 6 months! The 6 month-er, a girl aged 12, was always very reluctant. “I don’t want to read today, can we finish early?” This question was asked every week without fail! When we started The Invention of Hugo Cabret she was really surprised how much she liked it: “Can we keep reading? I’m not usually like this but this book’s very interesting!” We are now reading Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Every week she is fascinated, excited to start the story, asks lots of interesting questions (ranging from space, to God to history) and is upset when it is time to end, “Oh no! Can you read a bit more please please?!”

This chance to bring young people out of themselves, to help them develop their interests and explore imaginatively the world we live in through the world of reading is so much fun. Many of the young people have such limited aspirations, so helping them to see the world beyond their experience is immensely important.

TRO Santas: Running to support looked-after children

The work we do with looked-after children is so important and to give them a special holiday will be wonderful. It’s only with your help that we can raise funds and make it happen. Please donate what you can by visiting our online fundraising page – everything, no matter how big or small, will make a huge difference.

Scrapping Santas (calm down, calm down...)

We’ve already heard from the Blue team; now it’s time to get a report from the Reds – in particular, from our receptionist Michelle, who tells us how she got involved – or was slightly coerced - into joining the TRO Santa Dash crew and how her training is coming along…

The first day of a new job is usually very nerve wracking. You’re in a new environment and subject to polite interrogation by your new, subtly intimidating, colleagues. The best thing you can do in my book is keep your head down and pray that your subordinates go light on the runt.

Not in my case….

I sat shy and hunched, squirming in my swivel chair, trying to come across as aloof and as comfortable as possible. The office was full and everyone was busy, tapping away on their keyboards.

“Do you run?”

The tapping ceased and everyone peeped up. The question came from Niall, I recognised him from my informal interview day. He had shoulder length hair at the time; today it was shaven.

Great – I’m being ostracised by the office yob already.

“Do you run?” he repeated. I was miffed. “Erm…sometimes”, I lied.

“Great, do you want to run the Santa Dash then?”

And that was how it started. That is how I had my arm twisted up my ‘too new to say no’ back…!

I worked quietly throughout my first week and a half, hoping that no-one would remember my agreement. I’m terrible at running – think Phoebe from Friends crossed with an over fed sausage dog. However that irksome fundraiser Niall was right on my case.

Hence, I have started a rebellious training programme to gear me up for the 5k run. I’ve heard Boost bars are full of glucose so I’ve been feasting on the energizing delights, plus an extra layer of fat is sure to help me through that freezing, December morning. ‘What physical training have you under gone?’ I hear you say….well, I’m yet to put my feet to gravel; however, I have been getting lots of tips from watching Usain Bolt clips on YouTube.

The Santa suit is another thing which worries me slightly. My boyfriend Jack ran the Santa Dash a few years ago and his Santa Claus pants fell down during the race. Now that would be enough to put you off your Weetabix if that happens to me!

Anyway, I’ve devised a cunning plan with the help of our Business Manager, Zoe Gilling. She’s going to bring her two little elves and we’ll push them around the course in their prams. A race I can walk – ho ho ho!

If you can make a donation you can do so at our online donation page; if you have any queries or questions whatsoever please don’t hesitate to contact The Reader Organisation’s fundraising team on 0151 207 7207.

We’re doing well up to now, but we need more – the call comes to you to keep on giving; anything, big or small, will make a huge difference.