Poet Aneirin Karadog visits school children in Ceredigion to celebrate stories and rhymes

Published on: 23 March 2018 Author: Catriona Wightman

Over 200 reception children from seven local schools took part in workshops with the poet as part of BookTrust Cymru's Pori Drwy Stori programme.

Poet Aneirin Karadog visited reception children in Ceredigion to celebrate reading, rhymes and stories earlier this week.

200 reception children from seven local schools took part in the workshops, which were organised by BookTrust and supported by the Ceredigion Foundation Phase team.

The children enjoyed stories, poems and rhymes, took part in craft activities and were presented with certificates to congratulate them on their new rhyme and listening skills.

The sessions, led in Welsh by Aneirin, were based on the Boomerang Book Bags which were given to every primary school in Wales earlier this year as part of BookTrust's Pori Drwy Stori programme.

Pori Drwy Stori, which is funded by the Welsh government, supports literacy, numeracy and family engagement in learning by delivering free resources to schools in Wales.

The book bags feature English and Welsh language books and fun activity magazines, including bilingual book, Pip y Pengwin Bach or Pip the Little Penguin, which was translated into Welsh by the former Bardd Plant Cymru. 

'The Pori Drwy Stori scheme is really valuable, not only in terms of introducing the youngest children in Welsh schools to books and developing a love of reading, but also as this is an opportunity to stimulate the children's imagination and foster creativity as we saw in our lively and successful series of workshops in some of Ceredigion's schools lately,' Aneirin said.

Meanwhile, Helen Wales, BookTrust's Head of Country for Wales said, 'It's such a joy to see the children so excited about the Boomerang Book Bag books and to watch the story of Pip come to life.

'Learning to read is so important – but taking time to have fun with books and simply enjoy sharing stories is vital for every child. We want children and families to really enjoy sharing all the Pori Drwy Stori resources and to have fun reading, playing and learning together.'

And reception teacher Sioned Lloyd said, 'The children from Bro Teifi School really enjoyed the session. They loved rhyming with Aneirin along with gluing and craft activities associated with shapes; the afternoon was fun and was very successful.'

Download the full press release

Download the full press release in Welsh