Doncaster Storytelling Festival champions reading for 1,200 local children
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1,200 local children have joined the National Literacy Trust in Doncaster to celebrate the Doncaster Storytelling Festival, now in its sixth year.
Featuring fun and interactive events, the festival helps young people across Doncaster discover the joy of stories – and in this National Year of Reading, the buzz is bigger than ever.
The festival’s flagship schools; event was held on Friday, June 19, at the Cast Theatre.
Speakers included author and illustrator Kate Pankhurst (Fantastically Great Women Who Saved the Planet), poet Paul Cookson and author MG Leonard (Beetle Boy, Adventures on Trains, the Time Key series).
The National Literacy Trust’s latest research found that enjoyment of reading and daily reading habits have risen for the first time in five years. Still, children’s reading engagement levels remain low.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, more than a third (35.4%) of children and young people aged 8 to 18 say they enjoy reading in their free time and a fifth (20.2%) read daily in their free time.
The findings suggest that reading is most strongly embedded in children and young people’s lives when it is relevant, meaningful and supported by people around them.
Nationally, nearly half (48.7%) of children and young people said reading helps them explore their interests. For some, that interest lies in the environment, which is the theme for this year’s festival.
This links to the Great Green Read programme, an initiative the National Literacy Trust has been running in Doncaster since 2021.
In total, 1,200 children from 28 schools and home-educated families attended the festival’s schools’ event.
Every child chose a free book to take home, with some titles from the special guest speakers among the wide selection on offer.
Phil Sheppard, Manager for the National Literacy Trust in Doncaster, said: “We know that children enjoy reading texts connected to their interests, and also that support for
reading – both at home and within the wider community – is vital.
“And championing reading for enjoyment is what the Doncaster Storytelling Festival is all about.
“Now in our sixth year, this event supports young people in connecting with authors and stories to find the ones that feel relevant, meaningful and fun for them.