Children’s and Young People’s Diary Writing in 2015

A fifth of children and young people said in 2015 that they write in a diary in their free time. This is based on responses from 32,596 8- to 16-year-olds who participated in the National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey in November / December 2015.

Three times as many girls as boys write in a diary. Pupils aged 8 to 11 are three times more likely to write in a diary than their peers aged 14 to 16.

We also found that there is a link between diary writing and writing attainment.  Of those who write in a diary at least once a month, 5.5% write below their expected, 67.4% write at the expected level and 27.1% write above the expected level.