Leeds City Council and key partners will inspire and encourage schools and other education settings, libraries, businesses, ambassadors, individuals and families to promote a love of reading and to engage children in the wonderful world of storytelling.  Over the next year, the aim is to raise the profile of reading across the city and in particular to engage children and their families in positive reading activities to generate a long term love of reading. Leeds is to become a city of reading, where stories and books are valued and an integral part of everyone’s lives. Reading is a vital skill that is a cornerstone of successful learning and the Year of Reading Launch is the catalyst for an exciting year filled with author visits, events and learning for children and families across our fantastic city.

Bright Beginnings Childcare Centre would like to take an active part in this project by preparing lots of exciting activities that you and your children can experience throughout this academic year.

We believe our provision already encourages children’s love of reading by providing a rich communication environment and a wide range of literature in all of our rooms. Reading, rhymes and songs are a big part of our daily routine and our practitioners deliver high quality circle times. In preschool rooms, children learn about phonics, sound blending and rhyming through play and books are freely accessible to all children across all age groups. In addition, children regularly access a library bus that comes once a week and we also offer access to an EAL Library curated by our EYFS Coordinator that is located on the first floor next to the lift for all our children and families that speak English as an additional language.

We would love to promote the great benefits of reading regularly with your children and Leeds Year of Reading gives us an opportunity to bring fresh ideas and to introduce you all to new activities. Follow our Leeds Year of Reading journey on our Facebook (@brightbeginningsleeds) and Twitter (@bbccleeds) where we will be using the official hashtag #leedslovesreading and our own hashtag #feedtheread to share our activities and experiences every Wednesday.

We would also welcome any suggestions or ideas you might have to help us!