Young Readers Programme at
Paddington Central

We’re celebrating eight years of the Young Readers Programme – the award-winning initiative from our owner, British Land and the National Literacy Trust, which aims to encourage children to read outside of the classroom, as new research reveals reading for enjoyment among 8 – 18-year-olds in the UK is at its lowest since 2005 – for almost two decades.

As part of this year’s celebrations, we welcomed over 130 children from St Augustine’s CE Primary School and Hallfield Primary School to take part in a storytelling session designed to inspire a love of reading.

The children had the opportunity to enjoy a performance from professional rapper and storyteller, Alim Kamara, and take part in a range of fun activities, including a writing workshop on the Floating Classroom, a canal boat on Grand Union Canal which offers imaginative, engaging and fun learning experiences inspired by London’s waterways and green spaces. We also gave each child a book of their choice to take home for free.

The Young Readers Programme is especially designed to provide additional support and help with the development of children in under privileged areas by giving them better access to books.

We have helped to support more than 1,900 school children in London and seen more than 5,800 books donated across the region, since first taking part in the programme in 2016.

A huge thank you to our customers at Floating Classroom for their generous contributions and involvement in this year’s event.

To find out more about National Literacy Trust and its Young Readers Programme, and how to get involved in the future, get in touch with our Social Impact Manager, Ndidi Okoye, here.