Donate your preloved children books for World Book Day

01 Mar 2023

This World Book Day, we are hosting a book drive to pass on children’s classics to students in need.

Three smiling children sitting in front of bookshelves

40,000 school children in Greater Manchester don’t own a single book at home (National Literacy Trust).

To help to start to tackle this challenge, we’ve teamed up with Medlock Primary School, who will stock their library with books donated by you.

This will enable students – many of whom speak English as a second language – the opportunity to borrow books that can help them nurture a love of reading at home. So we need you!

How to donate

We need good quality, children’s fiction and non-fiction books that your family no longer needs.

Books need to be unmarked, in good, clean condition and relevant for ages 4-11.

They must be ‘free readers’. We cannot accept books aligned to school reading schemes e.g. ‘Biff and Chip’-style phonics books.

You can donate at the student hub in Engineering Building A anytime from World Book Day on Thursday, 2 March 2023 until Thursday, 16 March 2023. We’ll then transport your donations to the school.

Why your donation will make a difference

One in eight of the most disadvantaged children in Greater Manchester say they don’t have a book of their own at home
In England the median hourly wage of workers with the highest levels of literacy is 94 per cent higher than for workers who have the lowest levels of literacy
Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education and is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background
Low levels of literacy cost the UK an estimated £81 billion a year in lost earnings and increased welfare spending impacting on the economy as a whole
Literacy has been found to have a relationship with depression. 36 per cent of those with low literacy were found to have depressive symptoms, compared to 20 per cent of those with the highest levels of literacy

If you have any questions or queries, please contact Jo D’Angelo.