We are celebrating the award of National Lottery funding from Sport England to help families in Stoke-on-Trent get active with their children by using the power of stories.
The National Literacy Trust has been funded for three years to deliver the Storienteering programme in partnership with StreetGames, which is set to launch in spring 2019. The project will encourage families to get outside together and take part in adventure story trails around their local neighbourhood. It will also include a series of community events and a city-wide campaign to inspire families to share stories and be more active.
Storienteering will support our ongoing work to raise literacy levels in Stoke-on-Trent through our Hub in the city, which launched in 2017 and is known locally as Stoke Reads.
StreetGames harnesses the power of sport to create positive change in the lives of young people and their communities, right across the UK. Over the past decade the charity has worked with many organisations in Stoke-on-Trent to improve equality in sport and to help local people and communities to be healthier, safer and more successful.
Sport England’s Active Lives Survey reveals that only 54% of adults with children on a low income are active, compared to 71% of those in higher income groups. A third of adults on a low income with children are inactive – not doing 30 minutes’ or more activity a week.
Sport England has dedicated a £40 million National Lottery funding pot to address this by helping families get active together, and the National Literacy Trust is one of nine organisations to receive awards in the latest round of investments.
The fund is a key part of Sport England’s focus on helping young people have an enjoyable experience of sport and physical activity so they develop a positive attitude towards being active at an early age and continue being active in later life.
Each of the funded projects will work to address this by building adults’ confidence around getting active with their children, and by providing experiences for families that are enjoyable, convenient and low cost. Our project will bring sport and literacy together, delivering positive experiences that inspire families to be active together and naturally support children’s literacy skills.
Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this new National Lottery funding from Sport England, which will help us change the lives of more families in Stoke-on-Trent in partnership with StreetGames. Our experience shows that combining sport and literacy can be a brilliant way of engaging children and young people. Getting active and sharing stories gives families the chance to spend quality time together, and can have an important impact on health, happiness and success in life.”
Jenny Carter, Area Director – Midlands, at StreetGames said: “StreetGames is excited to be working with the National Literacy Trust to support families in Stoke-on-Trent to get active. StreetGames has a long and successful history of helping local organisations to deliver accessible and engaging Doorstep Sport programmes in the area. We are looking forward to widening our work to support parents, volunteers, students and young people to get active. We firmly believe sport will motivate and bond families, generating positive memories and fun stories.”
Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said: "This will encourage families to get involved in sport together and increase opportunities for people to get active in their local community. I look forward to seeing the positive impact this programme will have on people's health - both physical and mental - and how it can help nurture a lifelong love of sport and physical activity."
Mike Diaper, Sport England's Executive Director, said: “Parents have many demands on their time and can lack confidence in how to get active with their children. That’s why Sport England is working hard to make getting active or playing sport with your children an easier choice. It doesn’t matter what people do or how good they are, having fun together is what is important and helps ensure children continue to be active adults.”
Find out more about our work in Stoke, including the BookBench project coming to the city in 2019.
We win National Lottery funding from Sport England to help families in Stoke get active and boost literacy skills
23 Oct 2018
