Your Story Corner expands to Oldham: £62,000 in books and resources

Your Story Corner expands to Oldham

We’re excited to announce that Your Story Corner has expanded to Oldham, bringing £62,000 worth of books and resources to 31 primary schools in the area. This expansion will help develop a whole-school reading culture and support reading for pleasure – key to improving literacy skills for children who need it most. 

Why Oldham? A closer look at the need for reading support

Oldham is an area of significant need. It meets several key criteria that highlight the challenges faced by local children, including: 

• Lower literacy levels: Just 71.1% of children in Oldham reach the expected level in reading at Key Stage 2, compared to 74% nationally
• Higher levels of disadvantage: Almost 10% more children in Oldham receive Pupil Premium funding compared to the national average
• Increased child poverty: 6.5% more children in Oldham live in income-deprived households than the national average

Our goal with Your Story Corner is to support schools where the need is greatest. In fact, 33% of primary schools in Oldham qualified for the programme based on the current eligibility criteria. This means we can reach children who need it most, helping to close the gap in literacy and support our mission: to ensure every child can read. 

Spotlight on Woodlands Primary Academy

We celebrated the expansion of Your Story Corner to Oldham with a visit to Woodlands Primary Academy, where students were treated to a day of adventure and storytelling – and even a visit from the Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham! 

The highlight of the day was the arrival of the Your Story Corner packs – each school received 200 brand-new books. Students at Woodlands eagerly opened the boxes, their excitement palpable as they discovered stories that would spark their imaginations – with one student exclaiming ​“it’s like Christmas day!” 

Children’s author Susannah Lloyd and CBeebies presenter Ben Cajee also led a series of engaging activities that brought the magic of books to life. 

Susannah, whose visit was organised by Authors Aloud UK, delivered multiple workshops to the children, discussing her journey to becoming an author and leading workshops based on her books ​“Who Ate Steve,” ​“Here Be Dragons”, ​“This Book Can Read Your Mind,” ​“Badgers Are Go,” and ​“Revenge of the Claw.” With engaging activities, Susannah created a real buzz of excitement around reading and got the children thinking about what it means to be an author.

Ben, who is a Cbeebies ​‘Bedtime Stories’ presenter, treated a year 3 class to a live reading of ​‘The Bridges’ by Tom Percival. He followed this with Q&A session – where the children asked him a range of questions, from his journey to becoming a presenter to his favourite football team! Afterwards, Ben joined our reading mentors in exploring their new books, sharing the titles they were most excited about. 

Meet the author: Susannah Lloyd

Susannah Lloyd, author of playful and chaotic children’s books, shared her journey into storytelling with the students. Growing up, stories were a central part of her life. ​“My parents’ friends would record themselves reading my library books on cassette tapes, so I could listen to them over and over,” she recalls. 

Susannah’s passion for writing began early – she even created her first picture book at age five. She credits a secondary school teacher with encouraging her to pursue storytelling further. ​“It taught me how every story starts with just a small idea that you need to develop over time.” 

Now, Susannah writes books filled with endearing blunders and comical villains, hoping to inspire children to see reading as fun. ​“I hope children leave with more confidence in their ability to create stories that are uniquely theirs.” 

Instilling this excitement in the children at Woodlands Primary school, Susannah signed copies of books from her series ​‘Badgers Are Go!’ – so children had a personalised copy to take home.

Meet Ben Cajee: Presenter and Reading Advocate

Alongside Susannah, Ben Cajee brought his unique energy and passion for reading to the school. As a CBBC and Cbeebies presenter and advocate for children’s literacy, Ben knows just how important it is for young people to engage with books. 

The children excitedly shared their favourite stories with Ben as he gave them an insight into the importance of storytelling in his role as a presenter. 

The importance of reading for pleasure in literacy

At Bookmark, we believe that reading is more than just an academic skill – it’s a gateway to creativity, empathy and lifelong learning. As Susannah put it, ​“Reading adds a whole extra dimension to your life.” 

By fostering a whole-school reading culture, we’re helping children develop a love for books that will stay with them forever.