What is Read North East?
Read North East is a creative campaign to raise children’s literacy levels in the North East.
Led by the National Literacy Trust and supported by Penguin Random House UK, the Education Endowment Foundation and Greggs PLC, the campaign focuses on encouraging parents to talk and read to their babies and children. It is continuing to strengthen the culture of reading across the region and engage businesses to play an important role in addressing the literacy challenge.
What is the National Literacy Trust?
The National Literacy Trust is a national charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. Our research and analysis make us the leading authority on literacy. We run projects in the poorest communities, campaign to make literacy a priority for politicians and parents, and support schools.
Our impact
- Last year we directly supported the literacy of 116,290 children through our programmes
- We supported literacy in 5,529 schools and 184 early years settings
- 47,786 children and young people took part in our annual literacy survey and we released four research reports with the findings
- Our campaigning had a media reach of 262m and an equivalent advertising value of £5.2m
Find out more about our work in our impact report
What is the North East Literacy Forum?
The National Literacy Trust works in partnership with the North East Literacy Forum to deliver Read North East campaign, building links with other regional and local literature and education partners, and wider leisure and cultural organisations.
We brought a number of key regional organisations together including Seven Stories, New Writing North and the Northern Children’s Book Festival to form the North East Literacy Forum. Every member of this group has an interest in the North East and many are delivering literacy services or initiatives within the region.
The forum steers the campaign, enabling us to best harness local and regional knowledge and introduce new activities to inspire local children to get reading.
We are also working with national partner-funders: Penguin Random House, Greggs plc and the EEF, all of whom will enable us to capture the imagination of families and take our messaging to the widest possible audience including those in the areas of greatest need.
What is the literacy need in the North East?
The North East has some of the lowest literacy levels in the country. 17% of the population aged 16 to 65 (about 283,500 people) have literacy levels at or below that expected of a 9 to 11 year old, which affects how parents and carers support their children’s literacy development.
The literacy challenge in the region has been reinforced by our data analysis with Experian, which found that 60% of wards in the North East have significant literacy need, and the region is second most at risk of literacy problems in the country.
Find out more about our place-based approach to raise awareness of the importance of literacy.
How do I use the Read North East Logo?
We encourage partners to use the Read North East logo across their own materials and channels to help us to raise awareness of the campaign and show their support.
Where to use the logo
You could consider using the Read North East logo on:
- Your website
- Your email signature
- Promotional materials with a reading or literacy focus, e.g. posters and flyers
Process for using the logo
- Email Laura Flinn with details of where you would like to include the Read North East logo
- Laura will send you the logo in the relevant format
- Email Laura the document or a link to the website with the logo so we can keep track of where it is being used
- If your document is for an upcoming event or initiative, you may also want to share it with the North East Literacy forum and highlight how they could help you to promote it on social media
Dos and don’ts
- Where possible, try to include the Read North website (readnortheast.org.uk) and hash tag #ReadNorthEast alongside the logo
- Please do not alter or edit the logo in any way
- When your document has a coloured background, please ensure you use the transparent version of the logo