Closing the Gap with the Children’s Literacy Charity
The Children’s Literacy Charity (CLC) is a small charity but one which has a big impact on the lives of children.
CLC are literacy specialists, working to close the literacy gap and broaden horizons for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. By giving them the skills and confidence to engage in the classroom, CLC opens up the world of learning so a child can reach their full potential.
The CLC’s Literacy and Reading Labs are set up in schools in areas of economic and educational disadvantage. Working either one-to-one or in small groups, their expert tutors, who are employed, trained and managed by the charity, run carefully structured 45-minute tuition sessions twice a week which are tailored to a child’s individual needs.
How do we work together?
CLC has worked with AllChild since 2018, delivering our 1:1 Literacy Lab intervention in selected AllChild partner schools. Their specialist tutors work closely with the Link Workers in each school and are supported by the CLC’s School’s Programme Manager for the area. Their Literacy Lab programme for primary school children covers all the important literacy skills: phonics, reading fluency, comprehension, listening, speaking and writing. Literacy Labs provide a safe, nurturing environment where our tutors are able to build trusted relationships with hard-to-reach children and overcome barriers to learning by using visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approaches.
What is so important about our work?
The level of care that The CLC tutors provide is unique. They create spaces that encourage curiosity in the young people, which in turn supports their engagement on the programme.
AllChild Academic Support Manager
Literacy Lab is our flagship programme, focussed on children who can be up to two years behind age-related expectations and may be struggling to catch up for complex reasons: some have English as an Additional Language, others may have a Special Educational Need such as dyslexia or have disrupted school attendance. Over 70% of Literacy Lab graduates close their literacy gap completely - for every one month of our tuition, a child can make on average 4.5 months of progress.
While robust impact evidence is important to CLC, they are also focused on building confidence so children are able to read independently and for pleasure. In their Literacy Labs children who may have been struggling to make progress in the classroom gain essential communication skills and as a result grow in self-esteem and resilience.
Plans for the future
CLC aims to build collaborative partnerships with schools and families so children can thrive and develop a lifelong love of reading. Parental Engagement is a key strand to their future work: wherever possible, they like to run workshops and celebration events for families to encourage reading together at home and allow parents to play an important role in their child’s literacy journey.
