Stanfords Bristol awarded Harper Collins Literacy Grant

We are very pleased to announce that Stanfords Bristol has been awarded a £2000 grant to fund a literacy project based in the city centre.

Stanfords Bristol is one of ten independent booksellers in the UK to receive funding for a literacy project initiative funded by publishers Harper Collins, who have pledged £20,000 in grants for independent bookshops to help transform the lives of young people through reading as part of its ongoing commitment to The Literacy Project, launched in 2018.

In association with the National Literacy Trust, the Harper Collins Literacy Project grants ask booksellers to use their local knowledge in creating their own project that supports early years literacy in their communities.

The team at Stanfords Bristol will be working together with Hannah More Primary School to deliver an adults literacy course which will enable parents to better support their children’s reading at home.

The school serves central Bristol’s Lawrence Hill ward, an area that suffers high levels of economic deprivation. The majority of the children at the school come from families who have arrived in the UK in the last 15 years – many are refugees, others are economic migrants. The challenges that the families face are many and varied: common barriers can be weak language and communication skills, lack of confidence and lack of access to enrichment opportunities outside school.

The course will be taught by a specialist tutor and the sessions will be focused on giving parents the confidence to read together with their child at home – for example, through vocabulary exercises, practice reading aloud or questions to prompt discussion on themes or characters.

Katharine Seymour, Events Manager at Stanfords Bristol: “We are so excited to be part of this project! Hannah More’s is a fantastic primary school with an incredibly diverse community, and we’re really looking forward to working with them to deliver this course. We hope that it will boost parents confidence and inspire a joy of reading for pleasure – and show that bookshops are welcoming spaces open to everyone.”


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