Five questions with … Heather Coultard
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A big part of Connecting Stories’ success is its volunteer Literacy Champions – so we spoke to Heather Coultard, one of the Literacy Champions in Doncaster, to find out more about Connecting Stories, her work, and why literacy is so important for everyone.
What is a Literacy Champion and what do they do?
Literacy Champions are volunteers who work in their local communities to help people get into, and enjoy, reading. There are now more than 600 of us and we each work in one of the National Literacy Trust’s 14 Hub areas. We are trained by the National Literacy Trust and have support from a local team.
We distribute free books and resources to children, parents, and schools in their communities. We’re encouraged to develop our own ideas to promote literacy in our neighbourhoods and communities. Between us, Literacy Champions have done everything from handing out free books at events, sharing literacy resources with teachers showing others how to tell stories, holding storytelling sessions, hosting author events, creating useful online content, running community Book Swaps, working with local libraries to encourage parents to visit them with their children, designing competitions and a whole lot more.
You were one of the first Literacy Champions. What was that like?
Yes, that’s right. I was the first volunteer Literacy Champion in Doncaster when the project began in 2020, and I got to work making my own little outdoor library. I had help from friends, cutting it out, painting it, making it waterproof, and now it’s filled with a mix of children’s and adult’s books. It lives in Edenthorpe Community Garden where there’s a lovely seating area, so everyone can come along to choose and read a book, whenever they like.
I also run storytelling sessions at Doncaster Library with Jade, who like me is a Literacy Champion too. We started out small with just a few children attending each session, but now we’re full, with new children and their parents coming along to the story and craft sessions, and – most importantly – signing up as library members. Being able to support these families makes me so proud, and it’s been a privilege to watch the children who attend the storytelling sessions progress.
Why is improving literacy so important to you and to Doncaster?
Being able to read and write changes everything. It means you’ll do better at school and can get a better job when you leave. But if you grow up without books to read or opportunities to write, it’s so much harder to get where you want to go in life.
Research by the National Literacy Trust shows that 1 in 10 children across Yorkshire and the Humber don’t have any books at home. That’s just an average though and we know that there are so many more children in Doncaster who don’t own a single book. Those children just aren’t accessing books or literature outside of school so being a Literacy Champion in Doncaster means I can truly make a difference.
I know how it feels to find reading difficult as I really struggled as a child. I had to stay behind after class for extra support but my teachers, Mr Ashworth and Mrs Singleton, both inspired me and supported me on my reading journey.
What else do you do, apart from being a Literacy Champion?
I wear about six different hats! As well as being a mother of two wonderful children, I work for the Children’s University. I’m a forest school practitioner, a Beaver leader, a Sleep Practitioner providing one-to-one support for children with sleep difficulties and I am a mental health first aider!
When I’m not working, I like to read. I am studying for a Master’s Degree in Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs and Disability, so at the moment most of my reading is of academic books to support my studies but I’ve always encouraged my children to read too. They love books like The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Highway Rat.
What advice would you give to a parent or carer who wants to help their children enjoy reading, but aren’t sure where to start?
My advice is to demonstrate the behaviour you’d like to see. Read books with them before bed or talk about what they might like to read. If you aren’t very confident reading yourself, then don’t worry about reading the words, just talk about the pictures or make up your own stories. Or go to a local storytelling session (libraries often hold them). Sharing a book doesn’t just mean reading what’s on the page.
If you can, see if you can bring books to life with them. For example, when they were little my children loved Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. We visited the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and I took the book with me, so we could talk about the different animals. We also went to see the stage show in Doncaster.
We have funded an evaluation of the second phase of the Connecting Stories project (from October 2021 to April 2023) which illustrates the impact of the programme.
