Northampton Town support World Book Day
As part of World Book Day 2019, the Northampton Town Community Trust have been working with local partner schools to encourage pupils to get reading.
During the past week over 250 pupils have had the opportunity to read to Northampton’s mascot Clarence the Dragon through a newly launched initiative entitled ‘Communicating with Clarence’. The project aims to support pupils to develop their reading skills and improve their confidence and enjoyment of reading, particularly focussing on pupils who may not be as confident when reading aloud.
In addition to the launch of the new programme, World Book Day also saw first-team players sharing their favourite books and visiting schools to inspire pupils too. David Buchanan went to Wilby Primary School to read ‘The Wonky Donkey’ and David Cornell and Shay Facey visited Kings Heath Primary Academy to listen to pupils reading their favourite poems and books. Andy Williams, Marvin Sordell, Ash Taylor and Dean Bowditch all also got involved by sharing their favourite books, all with the aim of inspiring more young children to read.
Lucan Burge, Schools and Workforce Development Manager said, “It has been a great week helping to inspire and encourage more children to read and the launch of Communicating with Clarence has been really popular! With Clarence not being able to speak it provides children with a safe, less pressured situation to practice their reading and develop their confidence. It was also great to have the first team players out as positive role models to help inspire too. We hope with these positive impacts we are able to see more pupils fall in love with reading.”
The week culminated in a free book giveaway ahead of the home match against Exeter City at last weekends game on Saturday where 200 free books were handed out to families attending the match.
