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Research

Children and young people’s letter writing in 2021

Added 20 Oct 2021 | Updated 23 Jun 25

This report of responses to our survey from early 2021 shows that children and young people’s letter writing was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the key themes of connections, wellbeing, and advocacy/campaigning emerging from children and young people’s comments.

Key findings from the report include:

  • 1 in 4 (23.4%) of children and young people said that they had written a letter in the past month.
  • More girls than boys said that they had written a letter, as had younger children, compared with their older peers.
  • There was no difference by free school meal (FSM) uptake, with 24.2% of children and young people who received FSMs saying that they had written a letter in the past month, compared with 23.0% of those not receiving FSMs.
  • 1 in 5 children said that writing made them feel connected to the world.
  • We also found, for many children and young people:
    • Letter writing was an outlet for their creativity (66.1%).
    • Letter writing presented a way for children and young people to express their thoughts and feelings (57.3%), as well as their ideas and imagination (62.9%).
    • Nearly 1 in 4 (23.8%) of those who wrote letters also said that they wrote to support causes and issues that they cared about.
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