Doorstep Library
Doorstep Library works with London’s most disadvantaged communities to use reading for pleasure as a simple but effective tool to break the cycle of poverty. They have been fighting inequality in education since 2010, bringing the gift of books and the joy of reading directly into the homes of more than 1,600 children. The pandemic has demonstrated that in times of crisis, the families they work with need support more than ever. Over the next three years, Doorstep Library will take their reading programme into the homes of over 2,800 children and 1,300 families living in London’s most disadvantaged areas.
Lockdown and the pandemic have accelerated educational inequality at an alarming rate – in the summer of 2020, only 43% of disadvantaged pupils in primary school had met age related expectations for reading, compared to 63% of their peers (Juniper Education, Feb 2021). The reading skills of children from less affluent backgrounds are on average almost three years behind those from the most affluent homes by the time they leave compulsory schooling.
The Lightbulb Trust is supporting Doorstep Library’s home-based service in London to ‘level the playing field’ for children who are increasingly overtaken academically by their more affluent peers, by encouraging whole families to read together for pleasure from a young age through home reading sessions and access to books.
Doorstep Library
Doorstep Library works with London’s most disadvantaged communities to use reading for pleasure as a simple but effective tool to break the cycle of poverty. They have been fighting inequality in education since 2010, bringing the gift of books and the joy of reading directly into the homes of more than 1,600 children. The pandemic has demonstrated that in times of crisis, the families they work with need support more than ever. Over the next three years, Doorstep Library will take their reading programme into the homes of over 2,800 children and 1,300 families living in London’s most disadvantaged areas.
Lockdown and the pandemic have accelerated educational inequality at an alarming rate – in the summer of 2020, only 43% of disadvantaged pupils in primary school had met age related expectations for reading, compared to 63% of their peers (Juniper Education, Feb 2021). The reading skills of children from less affluent backgrounds are on average almost three years behind those from the most affluent homes by the time they leave compulsory schooling.
The Lightbulb Trust is supporting Doorstep Library’s home-based service in London to ‘level the playing field’ for children who are increasingly overtaken academically by their more affluent peers, by encouraging whole families to read together for pleasure from a young age through home reading sessions and access to books.
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