Reading Rights campaign: “It’s crucial to empower parents to be part of this”

Waterstones Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce is visiting The Trinity Catholic Academy primary school in Liverpool.

"This is the nearest school to where I grew up," says Frank. "There's a substantial number of children from the traveller community here, who may [be absent from school] for a month or more at a time when they travel. A lot of families who come to this school won't own books and perhaps won't have the confidence to read in an enjoyable way to their children – for example, to do voices and just have fun with it."

Vicki Shutt, Reading and Parental Engagement Lead at The Trinity Catholic Academy, is passionate about her work in not only engaging children with books and stories, but in involving their parents and carers in the process.

She says: "We want to promote a love of reading within families across our community. We're really pushing for families to read together at home. I've got a class of 30, and I asked them: 'Who gets a bedtime story?' Five children put up their hand.

"We understand it's tiring for parents by the time they get home from work. But if families are missing out on reading stories every night, they're missing out on opening up their child's world, on quiet time together, and bonding."

Vicki says that lack of parental confidence in reading and sharing books is an issue – something she's working hard to help overcome. "I've had a parent who's got no confidence whatsoever. If I did send a book home, she'd go: 'I can't read that.' And I'll go: 'I know you can. You can read it.'"

Showing parents there's more to books than words on a page

Vicki organises regular "Come and Read" sessions, where parents and carers are invited into the school to enjoy a story being read aloud to their children. During these, Vicki and the school's teaching assistants model how to share books in a fun, interactive way at home.

"We'll do a little workshop and give parents a little bit of time with their children after they've observed the staff reading, to have a little go themselves," she says. "It's not just about opening that book and reading. It's about using your voice, reading with expression and changing the tone of your voice. Parents can come and watch us do it, which helps give them confidence to do it, too."

In today's session, children take a seat at the foot of a bright, comfy sofa, with parents gathered around the room, too. Vicki then delivers a hilarious, animated retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It's full of expression, action and invitations for the children to shout out throughout the story - with Vicki's picnic basket of props and puppets adding even more entertainment value.

Joanne, who's here on her lunch break from work, and who has three children at The Trinity Catholic Academy, says: "The school's approach to getting parents involved is fantastic. They give us opportunities like this to join in, and they leave boxes of books around the school, so we can come and choose them with our children."

Afterwards, Frank Cottrell-Boyce breaks down how school storytelling sessions provide vital support for children's self-expression and emotional wellbeing. "Vicki just threw her full self into the session," he says. "That creates an opportunity for the children to be their whole selves, too.

"Reading creates this shared emotional space that feels safe. In that moment, teachers aren't asking for anything from children except to join in and be happy."

Frank adds: "The other thing that's really striking is the absolute crucial mission to empower parents to be part of this. As well as making sure they've got books – which loads of them don't – it's also about modelling what fun it is to read."

Seeing children's confidence go 'through the roof'

As well as engaging parents, Vicki has seen children she works with unearth their own inner storytellers over time. "Children have told me they've put their teddies out on their bed at home to share a book from school with them," she says. "You start to see the children sharing stories with each other in class, too.

"Even if they can't read yet, they're reading from the pictures, using their imagination. And then, the more books they're exposed to, and the more vocabulary they have, the more open they becoming to telling stories."

Vicki recalls one student whose confidence dramatically changed in line with her ability to enjoy books: "We had one child, whose family was from the traveller community, and who started school in Year Three. She didn't' know any letters or any phonics. I saw how hard the staff had worked with this little girl, and the progress she made.

"As soon as she realised that she could read even one simple sentence, that's when her eyes opened to books. You could see her love of reading grow from there. Then, every time I assessed her, she'd move up a group. Her confidence just went through the roof. She became chattier. She was reading novels in Year Six. We made her a reading buddy so she could read to reception children.

"Seeing how her world opened up through reading, it was just lovely."

Find out more about the Waterstones Children's Laureate's Reading Rights campaign