Birmingham Stories has teamed up with the Aston Villa Foundation to provide 300 children from 19 local primary schools with bundles full of back to school goodies.
Research shows that combining sport and literacy can boost children’s educational outcomes, so the bundles were packed with goodies to get children active and inspire their reading and writing. The donations - which included copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Bloomsbury Publishing), footballs and so much more - will help children in the city whose literacy and learning have been most seriously affected by the summer school closures as a result of COVID-19.
Members of the Foundation hand-delivered the packages to primary schools across the city, ready for children to collect as autumn term began.
"Many families have struggled during the pandemic so we’re delighted to be helping hundreds of local children alongside Birmingham Stories.
"The packs address the multi-faceted concerns families are grappling with as they return to school, including the cost of materials and worries about the impact of lockdown on home learning and play. It’s been a true pleasure to hear such positive feedback from teachers as they prepare for the new term and to know we’re able to make a difference."
Paul Hughes, Schools Manager at Aston Villa Foundation
Harinder Matharu, Manager of Birmingham Stories, said:
“Birmingham Stories exists to support, inspire and boost literacy rates in the city. We’re proud to be working alongside the Aston Villa Foundation to provide fun resources that will support the literacy of primary school children in the city after they’ve faced such significant disruption to their learning.
“Villa fans should also stay tuned to our social media pages this term as we have some more exciting activities planned with the Foundation that we can’t wait to share.”