Not every child has access to books and enjoys reading for pleasure at home. For families struggling with finances and the cost-of-living crisis, books can be a luxury that they just cannot afford – even when they care passionately about their children’s education.
Indeed, a study last year found that 1 in 12 (8.6%) children and young people do not own a single book at home, rising to 1 in 8 (12.4%) for those who are disadvantaged.
It also found that among the youngest pupils, aged 5 to 8, almost 1 in 5 (19.2%) did not have a single book at home (Picton & Clark, 2023).
This is where BookTrust’s Letterbox Club does such important and valuable work. Now in its 20th year, the programme provides parcels containing books, numeracy materials, and other resources to pupils aged 3 to 13 from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds.
A set of six parcels per-child – costing £152 – are put together by a panel of experts who understand the needs of children experiencing social and educational challenges and who review and carefully consider the suitability of the content.
The parcels are distributed to pupils at school or in the home, which can be an emotional experience, as school leader Ruth Dunmore knows only too well: “We took the package to one family’s house as an exciting treat. Within that family there were three eligible children who each received their own Letterbox Club parcel.
“One of the children told me they had never owned their own new book before, which was an emotional moment. We knew the family was using the library to practise their reading but that idea of having something that they could keep and re-read over and over was very magical and exciting.”
Ms Dunmore was involved in delivering Letterbox Club at her former school, Westfield Primary Academy in Haverhill, where she was deputy head.
She added: “As a school, it enables you to offer something additional for families. As well as engaging them with reading, you develop their awareness and inspire them to be excited about their future and where they want to go.”
Registration open for Letterbox Club 2024
Registration for the latest phase of the scheme is open now and delivery of the parcels begins in May.
Schools can use Pupil Premium funding to pay for the parcels and the scheme fits easily into the Pupil Premium strategy and accountability requirements. Letterbox Club can also help schools to meet the requirements of the Department for Education’s Reading Framework (DfE, 2023).
The scheme has six levels at each age group, so every eligible child will receive six parcels, one per level.
Lizzie Catford, BookTrust’s director of children’s books, explained: “Every parcel has a rich range of titles and while each child will have their own taste and interest in books, what they receive has been carefully selected because our experts believe they are books they will enjoy.
“For some children, it will be the first time they have accessed their own books – this might include, for example, fiction, non-fiction, and joke or activity books. So they get to experience all kinds of genres and perhaps discover something they did not know they liked.
“Our panel of experts, which comprises teachers and literacy experts, will have read each book and reviewed it for suitability before the parcels are put together.”
Readers can click here to see the latest titles to be included in the parcels for 2024/25 and here for the expert panel’s comments on the chosen books.
As well as reading materials, the parcels come with additional resources such as notebooks, felt pens or crayons (to complete the activity books), and dice for the mathematics games.
The response to the scheme has been hugely positive. BookTrust’s Letterbox Club Impact Report for Schools (2024) shows that 96% of those who received the parcels “like” or “love” them, while 86% said they “like” or “love” the books and 7 in 10 pupils said that the parcel had encouraged them to read more.
The analysis also suggests that the parcels are supporting children’s health and wellbeing by helping to build relationships between them and trusted adults – such as their teachers, parents, or carers.
Ms Catford continued: “We want to ensure that the children receiving the packages have everything they need and everything in one place, so they have parity with their peers and can access the life-changing benefits of reading for pleasure. They are really lovely packages, providing valuable and valued resources for the child.”
Implementing Letterbox Club in school
Parcels sent to schools can be used in a variety of ways. Sometimes children will explore the contents during one-to-one time with a teacher or teaching assistant and may read the book with them before taking it home.
This could be as part of a particular intervention, perhaps around reading skills or improving motivation or confidence. The parcels could certainly be used as part of a whole-school reading strategy as the teachers can be sure that every child has their own book.
Schools could also distribute the parcels during a coffee morning or a meeting with parents, where they can discuss how best the books and resources can be used at home.
Ms Catford explained: “Involving the parents in this way and getting them engaged in their child’s learning can be a very special moment.
“In fact, one of the best things about the Letterbox Club is the way that it supports schools with parental engagement around children’s reading in a very positive way because the child has their own books to read.
“We know from our work that shared reading with an adult is great for a child’s development and wellbeing, so having a book at home that they can read with a parent or older sibling is so important. They can talk about the story and the characters and enjoy it together and this is vital to a child’s emotional and cognitive development. It also builds a positive association with reading and gives them more motivation to read.
“We’re providing families the resources they need to help their children when they might not otherwise be able to give them themselves.”
In some cases, staff may deliver the parcels directly to the home, as Ms Dunmore and her colleagues did.
She explained: “We are conscious that programmes such as Letterbox Club are supporting families where there are potentially no books in that household.
“That could be a context where the family is not in a place where they have found pleasure in reading, or it’s not been their experience growing up and so you end up with a really worrying picture of this being passed on generationally.
“This gift of books and resources from Letterbox Club can get children really excited and give them something to hold on to, something that they can share with their parent or carer. And suddenly you've got a level of engagement that wouldn't have occurred naturally.”
‘Just go for it’
Huge impact: Pupils have told BookTrust exactly what they think of the Letterbox Club parcels – this just one of many such responses showing the impact of the programme
This is Ms Dunmore’s message to any schools exploring Letterbox Club for their Pupil Premium children: “Just go for it because there are only good things to come from doing so. There are absolutely no drawbacks and it’s something that is going to make a child feel very valued; that they’re going to enjoy and engage with.”
Ms Catford added: “Parents are motivated to see their children succeed and want them to do well. What we are doing is supporting them in that process by making it easier for them to access exactly what they need, so everything is in one place and accessible.”
Find out more at our free webinar
- Want to hear more about the impact of Letterbox Club? Come along to our webinar on June 11 from 4pm to 5pm. You'll hear from our expert panel, including a deputy head, on how Letterbox Club is making a difference to the learning and wellbeing of children. You can join the webinar here.
BookTrust & Letterbox Club
- For more information on the Letterbox Club, visit www.booktrust.org.uk/letterbox-club
- To register you can go to https://tinyurl.com/hd74x9cv (once you complete the registration form, the BookTrust team will be in touch regarding delivery and invoicing).
- To see the list of new Letterbox Club books for 2024/25, click here.
- To see comments on the chosen Letterbox Club books from the expert panel, click here.
- To read the Letterbox Club Impact Report for Schools, published in February 2024, click here.
Further information & resources
- DfE: Guidance: The reading framework, 2023: Click here.
- Picton & Clark: Book ownership in 2023, National Literacy Trust, 2024: Click here.
Sponsored content: This article has been published by Headteacher Update with sponsorship from BookTrust. It has been written and produced to a brief agreed in advance with BookTrust.