Read for My School Reaches England

October 9, 2012 /3BL Media/ - The Pearson Foundation and UK charity Booktrust have launched Read for My School, a free national schools reading competition for primary schools in England. Suported by the British government's Department for Education, Read for My School is designed to be fun and to motivate children of all abilities with a variety of interests to read for pleasure. It will also give children the opportunity to read their way to rewards for themselves and their schools, with all participating schools in with a chance of winning a substantial donation of fantastic books from a pot of 100,000 titles provided by Pearson.

All primary schools in England are invited to register for the competition at www.readformyschool.co.uk. Children who attend participating schools will be encouraged to read as much as they can, explore a variety of genres and formats, make their own choices as readers and recommend titles to friends. Reading for pleasure is at the heart of the initiative, which aims to generate excitement about books and cultivate long-lasting positive attitudes towards reading.

How the competition works:

• Participating children will be challenged to read as many books as they can from eight different categories between 21 January and 22 March 2013.
• Read for My School will provide a library of books for each category, all of which will be freely available to read on screen via the competition website www.readformyschool.co.uk. Alternatively children may choose to read any book offline, as long as it fits the relevant category.
• Children will log what they have read on the website, receiving virtual rewards and being entered for prize draws based on the number of books they have read.
• Each school will be invited to nominate children for regional and national awards.
• All registered schools will be entered into a prize draw to receive a donation of books from a pot of 100,000 books provided by Pearson.

We are delighted to join our charity partners in supporting Read for My School, a programme which fits neatly with our Booktime programme in promoting reading and sharing the pleasure of books. This year's Booktime will launch later this autumn, giving a free Booktime pack containing a Pearson Primary reading book and a Penguin Children's storybook to every child starting school in England.

Read all about Read for My School by visiting the website here.

Learn more about what we're doing to raise literacy levels in our Impact on Society report. 

About Pearson
We are the world's leading learning company. Our portfolio includes Penguin, Dorling Kindersley, the Financial Times and our educational business, Pearson International. Imprints including Longman and Prentice Hall combine 150 years of experience with online support for every learner. Our education businesses provide education and assessment services in over 60 countries, while products such as MyLabs and Bug Club are changing educational practice worldwide. Every day our work helps learning flourish, and wherever learning flourishes, so do people. www.pearson.com