Local MP Justin Tomlinson was on hand on Saturday as the lead witness to the Guinness World Record attempt at Swindon Central Library which aimed to get a record number of youngsters signed up to this years Summer Reading Challenge.
The campaign run by The Reading Agency is aimed at encouraging as many primary school children as possible to take part in the challenge which is the UK's largest reading for pleasure initiative. Improving literacy skills is one of the Governments key education priorities and £23.7 million has been invested in high-quality phonics teaching resources which will help give children a solid base to build literacy skills in schools.
However research shows that reading for pleasure is equally as crucial, and children who use libraries are twice as likely to be above average readers. It builds confidence and independent reading, while preventing the dip in children’s literacy levels during the long break from school.
The Summer Reading Challenge is a unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK and got 810,000 children reading in the summer holidays in 2014. The Challenge reaches children and young people of all ages. For pre-schoolers there is a mini-challenge and for young people (aged 13 to 24) there is the opportunity to volunteer and support younger children taking part. Volunteering provides a quality workplace experience for young people in libraries, inspires them to think about future careers and increases their employability as they gain useful life skills and confidence.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “I have long been a supporter of libraries and encouraging young people to use them is vital. It was great to see a mix of parents, grandparents and carers bring their children to the Central Library last Saturday to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge. Last year 3578 children in Swindon took part and I hope that we can build on that number this year. It was an honour to act as the Guinness World Record official and I look forward to celebrating with participants once they have completed the challenge.”
