Keep OxOn Reading

Aim

Reading is a great escape during lockdown, but sadly not all children have access to books at home. We want to fix that!

Books are magic

At education charity, Quest for Learning, we're firm believers in the magic of books. They expand our horizons, fire our imagination, and take us on adventures without leaving home. That's especially important now.  

What we do

Disadvantaged pupils end primary school academically behind their classmates. On average, 9.5 months behind. This is often referred to as the “attainment gap”. At Quest for Learning, we help to narrow the attainment gap between children from low-income homes and their peers, levelling the playing field and increasing their life chances. 

Each year, we work with around 250 primary school children in Oxfordshire who are struggling to keep up in class. With the help of our specialist tutors, they typically make more than a year's progress in reading accuracy and reading comprehension in just 6 weeks!

The impact of lockdown

School closures are going to affect disadvantaged children more than their peers. The children we work with are the least likely to have effective home-learning support in place to make up for the teaching that they're missing. They're already behind and the gap is going to widen. We don't think that's ok.

When schools re-open, we'll be working with our partner schools to provide intensive interventions for those pupils who've fallen behind their peers to give them the support they need to catch up. The most disadvantaged children in our community can’t be left with even worse life chances through no fault of their own. 

In the meantime, we want the children we work with to keep on reading during the lockdown, but many of them simply don't have books at home. Research has shown that having even just 2 books in the home is a bigger predictor of academic achievement than parental income, class, or levels of education.

How you can help

We're asking for your help to buy and deliver 2 high-quality books to 250 disadvantaged children at our partner schools in Oxfordshire, so they can continue to enjoy the benefits of reading during the lockdown. 

This will cost £20 per child - around £15 to buy 2 books and £5 to get them delivered to the school and pay for them to be sent home to the recipient! (For safeguarding reasons, the schools can't share the children's home addresses with us.)

What if we raise more than the target?

That would be amazing, as we'd be able to give books to more children!

How will we thank you?

With every pledge you'll get a personal thank you sent to you through email or with a handwritten card. We'll also give you a shout out via social media, using the hashtag #KeepOxOnReading 

This project successfully funded on 12th May 2020