Reading for Pleasure Roadshow Hits Oxford

Press Release
27 Mar 2015

27th March 2015


The Publishers Association, members of the Read On. Get On. campaign, are calling on Oxford’s literature-lovers to take action to get children reading, as The PA’s  Reading for Pleasure Roadshow hits the Oxford Literature Festival.

Every year one in five children in England, including over a third of the poorest children, leave primary school not reading as well as they should, with dismal consequences for their futures. According to recent research, Oxford East constituency, home to Oxford’s Story Museum, is in the bottom half when it comes to getting children from lower income backgrounds reading well by age 11.

As part of the Read On. Get On. campaign, The PA has joined charities and businesses in a major national mission to ensure all our children have brighter futures by leaving primary school as confident readers. Reading for pleasure plays a vital role: just ten minutes reading a day with a child makes a huge difference and helps them fall in love with reading, meaning children do better at school, and better in the workplace. The UK’s GDP could be 2.1% higher by 2025 if we could achieve the goal of getting all children reading well by age 11.

The PA’s roadshow will showcase the life-changing work that is being done by charities across the UK to support children’s literacy, and urge everyone to get involved to get children reading well. 

During the roadshow visitors will:

  • Be given top tips on how to engage their local community and help children read.
  • Learn about the wide range of reading for pleasure initiatives available.
  • Find out how to become reading ambassadors in their local communities, and how to take action to get all children reading well by the time they leave primary school.

The Reading for Pleasure Roadshow has already visited a number of publishing houses including Bloomsbury, Pan Macmillan, Egmont and Harper Collins, giving the partner charities the ability to talk directly to staff about their activity and how people can get involved.

Download available here.