Fostering Network & Letterbox Club Win
30th September 2011
Location: London
Letterbox Club Northern Ireland, a pioneering project run by leading Fostering Achievement and Booktrust, has won a prestigious Third Sector Excellence award.
Letterbox Club Northern Ireland, a pioneering project run by leading Fostering Achievement and Booktrust, has won a prestigious Third Sector Excellence award.
The educational project for children in care, established in 2009, was announced Charity Partnership of the Year at a black-tie dinner attended by more than 500 guests at the London Lancaster hotel in London last night.
The Letterbox Club provides children in foster care aged 7 to 11 years with direct support to improve their reading and number skills. Through the scheme children receive personalised parcels of books, stationery and maths games once a month for six months.
Evaluation of the 2009 and 2010 schemes by Queen’s University in Belfast showed improved literacy and numeracy skills for fostered children receiving the parcels. Children’s reading accuracy and comprehension scores increased by an average of more than three points, while more than a third of the children went up a key stage level in completing number problems and fluency with mental arithmetic.
Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the Letterbox Club project has received this award, and congratulations to our colleagues in Northern Ireland involved in making the scheme such a success.
“We know that all too often children in care struggle in school and fall behind their peers in terms of academic achievement. Access to the fun and inspiring materials that the Letterbox Club sends out is helping young fostered children to meet their potential at a key stage in their development.”
