Education & Literacy Month

September is Rotary Basic Education & Literacy month

Rotarians around the world are promoting many projects, small and large, that support Rotary Basic Education & Literacy Month.  The examples below are what Rotarians in Cumbia & Lancashire have been doing, both locally and internationally.

Local projects include help with reading in schools, donating dictionaries, and funding of  PSHE (Personal, social, health and economic education ) workshops.

Reading in Schools : Carnforth Rotary Club provide reading help three times a week during term times with Key Stage 1 classes at a local school.

Dictionaries for Life 

The Dictionary 4 Life (UK edition) helps to promote literacy and helps children develop their skills and understanding with the English language.   

The National Literacy Trust says “In England, 16.4% of adults, or 7.1 million people, can be described as having "very poor literacy skills."  They may therefore find it difficult to be able to help their children with their homework.

The Dictionary 4 Life is mainly aimed at year six primary school leavers. By using dictionaries efficiently children explore spellings, meanings and derivations for example by using alphabetical order, abbreviations and definitions with understanding. 

Rotary Clubs of Preston Guild, Workington and former club Great Harwood and Rishton have been making donations of Dictionaries for Life to youngsters in schools in their area for many years.

Preston Guild - Members of the Preston Guild Rotary club recently visited St Ignatius school to present this year's Class 6 leavers with their Dictionaries for Life.  The youngsters will now be going off to various secondary schools in the area.

Workington Rotary distribute over 200 books each year to Year 3 pupils at six Primary Schools.

Image : Pupils at St. Peter and St. Paul's Primary School in Rishton

Great Harwood & Rishton - This year they presented their 5,000th dictionary to a pupil at St. Peter and St. Paul's Primary School in Rishton, which brings the total of books donated so far to 5040.  They have been giving dictionaries to Primary School pupils at ten schools in their two towns since 2008, and plans are in place to continue that good work.   

Life Education in Cumbria & Lancashire   

Life Education Lancashire & Cumbria provide in-school workshops throughout Cumbria & Lancashire providing PSHE (Personal, social, health and economic education ) workshops in primary schools.

They deliver evidenced based workshops including how to keep minds and bodies healthy, legal and illegal drugs including smoking & alcohol, friendships and relationships, mental health, puberty and RSE, staying safe online.

Darwen Rotary has been making  donations over four years to encourage schools to take up Life Education visits.  Twelve primary schools in the Darwen area have taken up the offer at some stage over that time span.

Carlisle Rotary (image above) has previously been a regular donor to Life Education Cumbria over many years. 

“The Life Education appeal was for the work they do in educating primary school children about drugs and life’s other dangers.”