The Mohn Westlake Foundation is proud be supporting BookTrust, the UK’s largest reading charity, to pilot new support for those children who need the most help to get reading.

BookTrust aims to inspire young children to enjoy books and stories, laying the foundation of their reading and giving them better chances in life, supporting their education, confidence and well-being.

BookTrust runs nationwide programmes with books, resources and support to help children develop a love of reading. The charity encourages children to read in lots of different ways, but its priority is to get more children excited about books, rhymes and stories – because if reading is fun, children will want to do it.

BookTrust wants all families to have access to reading, which is why it also delivers more targeted programmes – whether that’s for families facing economic hardship, children in care or children with additional needs.

The Mohn Westlake Foundation is enabling BookTrust to pilot new support for those children who need the most help to get reading, and for the many parents still struggling with reading regularly with their children in the critical early years.

BookTrust aims to increase its more targeted activity to reach these families, and in ways that will change behaviour. It is a significant challenge, but there are great long-term rewards for children and for wider society, including language development, school readiness, confidence and well-being, and future life chances. Research shows that children who don’t have access to books, reading and stories when they are young, start school a year behind their peers, and this gap widens as they go through education.

BookTrust’s partnership model and existing networks give the charity the opportunity to turn local success into nationwide activity.

To learn more about this project, please visit the grantees website: www.booktrust.org.uk