“Reading transforms the human brain, which transforms the mind, which transforms the life of every reader.”

Dr Maryanne Wolf and Dr Mirit Barzillai: ‘Stop What You are Doing and Read This!’ Vintage Books 2011

Since 2012, Break 3 has been collaborating with Frome town and village schools, to explore and test new ways to inspire reading.

There are local and national concerns that today’s children, and particularly boys, read less, immersed as they (and we) are in the distractions of screens, gaming and new media. According to the National Literacy Trust, only three in 10 young people read daily in their own time. This includes comics, magazines and web-sites.

Break 3 Words is currently has two literacy based project strands with schools:

• Words in the Woods: outdoor reading den and activities (linked to the Key Stage 2 literacy curriculum) transforming reading into an outdoor adventure (Rode, Norton St Philip and Berkeley First Schools and Frome Children’s Festival). Led by Lucia Harley and funded by Awards for All.
• Free the Words: co-ordinating and evaluating geo-located Storywalks harnessing 4G technology to inspire writing outdoors (Rode, Hayesdown First Schools, and Oakfield Middle School) led by Norton St Philip First School with funding from Shine and Ernest Cook Trusts.

We are also in the early stages of developing new a new ‘off the wall’ words inspired installation for festivals in 2015.

Some of our projects are beginning to stretch beyond our local Frome area, and are also beginning to extend into work with older age groups.

Please get in touch if you would like an informal chat about creative interventions to inspire literacy confidence and ability in your setting.

People we are collaborating with:

Chris Jelley           Storywalks (Director)

Claire Vowell        Storywalks (Education Consultant)