Looking ahead

The Story Corner magazine

What we learned:

The magazine was well received by children and teachers at schools across the UK and we've seen clear demand from food banks allowing us to further extend our reach. We’ll continue to expand the magazine’s distribution. We aim to print three issues per year (one per term) and distribute 100,000 copies per term. Magazines will also be distributed as part of a package option available to schools.

Your Story Corner

What we learned:

The response to the pilot was largely positive, although it’s too early to know its full impact on whole school reading culture and school business development. We’ll be expanding Your Story Corner to three new locations this year: Nottingham, Plymouth and Leicester. There will be a review of the project in summer 2023.

The action we’re taking:

The action we’re taking:

We know the scale of the literacy challenge and we have ambitious growth planned over the next few years. By this time in 2025 we aim to have delivered over 400,000 reading sessions and to have partnered with 800 primary schools. This will be possible through significant growth in our volunteer community who help us make it happen every day.

To achieve this, we will strengthen the foundations of our charity. This includes a renewed approach to impact measurement and using it to drive continuous improvement, investing in our technology, so that we can deliver the best possible experience for all stakeholders, and focusing on the development of our staff so they are best equipped to deliver what is required. We will work on retaining our current volunteer base, whilst increasing diversity within our volunteer community to best represent the children we support and further facilitate growth. We will also strive to better understand the needs of our school partners and to ensure the services we provide support their long-term literacy goals.

Next year it will be five years since Bookmark delivered our first reading session. We will be building on a theory of change process to launch a new, purpose driven five-year strategy and look forward to talking with current and new partners as we work on this strategy, to change the story for countless more children.

Methodology

We collect a range of data, from standard assessments of pupils’ reading levels, to detailed surveys. Rather than focusing solely on reading levels or grades, we use teachers and volunteers’ perceptions to gain a rounded and holistic view of our impact. This report uses data from the following sources.

• We collected pre-intervention reading level data for all children referred to our reading programme. Schools were also asked to provide end-of-year reading level data in July 2022. Responses were received for 1,315 children (69% of those reached).

• Teachers were asked to complete termly surveys, as well as an end-of-year survey in July 2022 (88 responses/35% response rate).

We also interviewed six teachers throughout the academic year to build case studies.

• We conducted end-of-programme volunteer surveys (983 responses/ 51% response rate).

• We held three play-based focus groups with children on our reading programme. • Seventeen schools provided pre- and post-intervention data using our reading audit survey tool.

• Teachers were asked to complete pre- and post-intervention surveys. We also interviewed four teachers from participating schools.

• We ran two focus groups with teachers in Birmingham and Lincolnshire.

Our reading programme: Your Story Corner:

The Story Corner magazine

• Questions about the magazine were included in the end-of-year teacher survey above.

The Bookmark Box for Ukraine

• We collected testimonials from 23 beneficiaries and project stakeholders. • An interview was carried out with Inna

Hryhorovych, headteacher at St Mary’s

Ukrainian school in Holland Park.

Our supporters and partners

We couldn’t do it without you! Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year. Alongside many who wish to remain anonymous, we would like to recognise the generosity of the following supporters.

Literacy Capital plc

The CVC Foundation

Generational Foundation, Meg & Andrew Headley Radovan and Yvonne Radman FoundationThe Rank Warburg Pincus Foundation Allan Leighton Simon DowningAnne Williams & Bayley & Sage Mark Sorrell

Coventry Building Society Close Brothers Group The Childhood Trust Pev &Zanna Hooper GoddardAddleshaw Bright Network Burges Salmon

Chambers & Partners Garfield Weston Foundation EPM Transport Solutions Dawn Marriott Clearance Capital TrustGIL Charitable

City of Westminster Charitable Trust GOTO Group Grayce Foundation The Inflexion

La Fosse Associates Jose Barreto James O’Gara & Camilla Castro IRIS Software Group Investec Liberty Corporate Finance

Oxygen Freejumping Nick and Jane Robinson Lincoln International The Leathersellers' Company Charitable Fund Purplebricks Sarah & Daniel Butters & Family Techpoint

The Children's Book Project

Curry's

ChatterStars Browns Books

Addleshaw Goddard The Crown Estate Michael O'Mara Books

Mark Pallis

Jay Stansfield

Grayce Embassy of Ukraine to the UK SNAP LDN Sefa Verlag Prestel Publishing

Oxford University Press The SHARP Agency

Nosy Crow Twinkl Vodafone UK Corporate Partnerships Board Literacy Advisory Board Marketing Advisory Board Primary Schools Advisory Board Technology Advisory Group Volunteer Advisory Board

Special thanks to our Bookmark Box for Ukraine partners who supported our emergency campaign and helped thousands of Ukrainian children arriving in the UK...

The CVC Foundation

The Corcoran Foundation

Chambers and Partners Burges Salmon

Alcumus 8C Capital

Chris & Peggy Sellers Deborah & Stefan Kobewka Literacy Capital plc Investec The Humphries Family OakNorth

UBS The TowerBrook Foundation Radovan & Yvonne Radman

ECI Partners

Purplebricks Generational Foundation, Meg and Andrew Headley A huge thank you to The Literacy Network of philanthropists who are instrumental to Bookmark being able to scale in a way that would otherwise not be possible...

Deborah & Stefan Kobewka

Cyrus & Heidi Kapadia

Brette & Gordon Holmes

Anthony & Sandra Gutman Sharon & Paul Pindar Sarah & Chris Busby

Mick & Shirley McDonagh Michael Bruun & Mette Treppendahl

8C Capital Alcumus The Flint Family

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Registered Charity No. 1177681 Registered Company No. 11104438 Bookmark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing and welfare of children.