The ‘Levelling Up’ White Paper released this week contains a welcome inclusion on improving literacy in order to even out opportunities across the country.
As a charity with ten years’ experience supporting children in areas of high inequality to enjoy learning and achieve success in school and beyond, we already play a part in achieving this societal mission.
We know that literacy skills and engagement in education during the transitional period of ages 9-12 are hugely important. Reading and writing well, and with confidence, is key to educational success and children struggle to do well in life without it. That why we welcome the Government’s plan to tackle one of society’s most ingrained inequalities; that school outcomes are tied to a child’s socio-economic background.
The Government’s mission is to focus on eliminating illiteracy and innumeracy. Their aim is that by 2030, 90% of all primary school children in England will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, with the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst-performing areas improving by a third. This can only be achieved by building on the success of community groups and charities like ours.
During the pandemic we built an innovative digital programme so that we could continue to support our ‘Young Pirates’ online. In time, we saw that new programme as key to reaching more children than ever. We developed our ‘Virtual Ship’ and can now make similar impact on literacy levels and classroom confidence, online as we do in-person. We are no longer limited by postcode. We can reach children across the capital and in time, the UK.
Right now, we need people like you to join us as supporters and help build our Virtual Ship. You can read more about our strategy here and find out more about how to get involved by emailing us.
Footnotes:
The Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation report in 2021 looking at GCSE results from 2020, showed that 78% of non-disadvantaged pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, compared to 56% of disadvantaged pupils. Almost half of children from lower socio-economic backgrounds left school without a Level 2 qualification (GCSE equivalent) in English and Maths compared to just 22% of their more advantaged peers.
The National Literacy Trust (web 2020) reports that poor literacy can lead to a person being twice as likely to be unemployed by age 34, and three times more likely to have mental health issues as adults. The current unemployment rate in the key hotspots outlined in the report are much higher than the national average of 4.2%.
