Julie Hayward, BookTrust’s Director of Partnerships, outlines how this supports the long-term aim of the Reading Rights campaign.
BookTrust Reading Rights with Barnsley – the right of every child to thrive
For the next stage of the Reading Rights campaign, BookTrust and Barnsley Council are working together to create a place-based pilot for getting families reading – and over the summer we held our first in person workshop to kick off the activity.
Background: The vision for Barnsley as a City of Stories
The Reading Rights: Books Build a Brighter Future campaign from Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and BookTrust is calling for a national provision to make reading a part of daily life for every child in the first seven years of life.
The campaign’s Reading Rights report sets out a vision for a local reading ecosystem – The City of Stories – where early childhood reading and storytelling are part of everyday life for every family, using a joined-up approach of services across the community. In collaboration with BookTrust’s place-based team, Barnsley Council has assembled a task force of experts from across its services – including health visitors, midwives, local stakeholders, library services, GP practices, third-sector providers and Family Hub 0–19 Services.
This Barnsley task team is steering the co-development of a placed-based pilot with BookTrust, based on the needs of the community, designing and testing a blueprint to ensure every child has the chance to experience the life-changing benefits of reading during their early years.
Behind the scenes: BookTrust and Barnsley’s place-based pilot
During the 2025 summer, the BookTrust and Barnsley Council task team held a workshop to share insights and progress the place-based pilot to its next stage.
For BookTrust, the workshop was a chance to build on existing work in the Dearne Valley area, looking further at the opportunities to bring shared reading support into local communities through enhancing and developing the expertise of the local teams and partners. It created a space for local experts to discuss where they believe it would be best to focus efforts and develop ideas for innovation, and where BookTrust’s contribution would be most useful.
A key consideration is exploring how the pilot will sit within existing initiatives and core priorities for Barnsley Council and its workforce, including its Great Childhoods Ambition. Initial ideas under development as part of the pilot include developing new antenatal resources for families, creating new storytelling experiences for communities, and training and support for health professionals for sharing the benefits of shared reading from an early age with the families they work with.
Will Carr, Senior Partnerships Manager for BookTrust in the North of England, says:
“There was real excitement and optimism about what’s possible. The workshop was a brilliant opportunity to pool the expertise of BookTrust’s partners in The Dearne, and for us to listen as they discussed challenges facing families in the area.
We all left the day having identified fresh opportunities to align different areas of work that are already happening, and where BookTrust’s support can add the most value. There was real excitement and optimism in the room about what’s possible. BookTrust is looking forward to continuing to co-develop this work with Barnsley’s health, libraries, and early years teams.”
We’re now at a stage where the pilot is really starting to take shape, and after last summer’s workshop it feels like we’re ready to take the practical steps forwards that will result in relevant and valuable reading-based interventions for families in the Dearne – because they have been co-designed with local experts.”
We’re now at a stage where the pilot is really starting to take shape, and after the workshop it feels like we’re ready to take the practical steps needed that will result in relevant and valuable reading-based interventions for families in the Dearne – because they have been co-designed with local experts.
Will Carr, Senior Partnerships Manager for BookTrust
Reflections from Barnsley Council
Karen Rose, Head of Early Start, Prevention and Sufficiency for Barnsley Council’s Children’s Services, says:
“It was fantastic to see colleagues from across our Family Hubs, Libraries, 0–19 Public Health, and Area Council teams come together to explore how we can make every contact count in promoting early literacy and the power of reading.
We’re excited to be discussing the roll-out of ideas such as training to a wide range of professionals, which would equip them to better support families and embed storytelling into everyday practice. Providing families with consistent messaging alongside high-quality books and resources will be invaluable in helping them bond, play, and learn together.”
This work is a vital part of our Great Childhoods Ambition—ensuring every child has access to enriching learning experiences that support their growth, development, and lifelong love of reading.
Karen Rose – Barnsley Council’s Children’s Services
The vision for the future
The long-term aim of the Reading Rights campaign is to develop a sustainable and replicable model that can be scaled and adapted across other regions – in both rural and urban environments – and so we’ll be learning from our work in Barnsley as well as other local authority areas. It’s seen as essential that models are co-designed with local experts to be place-based, and in line with the specific needs of the local community.
We’ll be sharing more about what we’re learning in Barnsley – and other areas – as things develop.
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Download our Reading Rights Interim Report, exploring how we can work together to bring the transformational benefits of reading to every child.