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National Literacy Trust and Immediate Media launch Reading Challenge

In partnership with Immediate Media, the National Literacy Trust has launched a new magazine-themed challenge to pupils across the country: the Immediate Magazine Reading Champions.

National Literacy Trust and Immediate Media launch Reading Challenge
Fiona Evans: “Magazines are great for helping to boost literacy skills and get children and young people reading regularly.”

As part of its ongoing work to support schools, the National Literacy Trust runs Reading Challenges for children and young people to do in school or as part of their online learning. They aim to get children into reading for enjoyment, support whole-school literacy and encourage positive reading habits in reluctant readers.

In light of the disruption to children’s education and school routine in the past year, this challenge helps to increase access to reading materials for children across the UK, says the National Literacy Trust. It is open for all pupils aged 5-14 until Friday 28 May.

Immediate Media publish magazines for children of all ages, from preschool titles such as Andy’s Amazing Adventures, through to preteen magazines like BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine and MEGA magazine. By participating in this challenge, pupils can access a selection of free digital resources taken from magazines such as Andy’s Amazing Adventures, Disney Stars, MEGA magazine, BBC Top Of The Pops and Girl Talk.

The Immediate Magazine Reading Champions challenge encourages discussion about how magazines are made, which parts pupils find most engaging, and also aims to spark their creativity by challenging them to create different elements of a magazine themselves from a quiz, to a word search, or even take it further and develop a cover or feature article.

Teachers are then encouraged to send in their entries to the National Literacy Trust to be entered into a prize draw by either emailing competitions@literacytrust.org.uk or tweeting images of their students work with the hashtag #ImmediateMagChallenge.

Teachers also can find guidelines and resources on the National Literacy Trust Reading Champions Challenge page to help guide the activity with their classes.

Although entries must be in by 28 May to be in with a chance of winning a big bundle of Immediate Media magazines for your school, the challenge is available all year round, and can be done at a time that suits each school.

Steph Cooper, Group Editor and Education Advisor at Immediate Media, said: “We’re delighted to work in partnership with the National Literacy Trust on the Immediate Magazine Reading Champions campaign. Like the National Literacy Trust, we want children to enjoy reading in a fun and creative way. Getting children to explore and discover magazines is an exciting way to support them in their literacy journey, giving them lots of opportunities to develop new skills. We hope children and teachers enjoy their magazine experience as much as we do.”

Fiona Evans, Director of School Programmes at the National Literacy Trust, said: “We’re really excited to launch the latest in our Reading Challenges, and would like to thank Immediate Media for their amazing support and offering for schools. Magazines are great for helping to boost literacy skills and get children and young people reading regularly, learning about the world and excited about delving into new stories and puzzles.

“The Immediate Magazine Reading Champions aims to highlight the power of magazines in supporting children’s reading comprehension, creative development and reading for pleasure. Good luck everyone, we can’t wait to see your entries!”

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