4-4-2 Reading Challenge

Arbroath FC are delighted to be taking part in the The SPFL Trust and Scottish Book Trust pioneering pilot project, the 4-4-2 Reading Challenge.

The Scottish Book Trust and the Scottish Professional Football League Trust (SPFL) have joined up with 14 SPFL clubs and over 200 local libraries, to encourage primary school-age children to read in exchange for match tickets.

Together with our Angus neighbours Forfar Athletic Football Club (Official) the scheme was launched on Friday and will run from the 16th of February until May 31st.

Primary School Children aged 5 to 12 can borrow books from ANGUSalive’s Arbroath, Forfar and Mobile Libraries.

The initiative centres on a reading “challenge card” which participating clubs and libraries will issue. For every book read, children will receive a stamp on their card.

When they have read four books, participants will receive a FREE match ticket, while an accompanying adult will be able to purchase a discounted ticket.

Children can take part as many times as they like!

Both Arbroath FC and Forfar Athletic have received great support from ANGUSalive Libraries The SPFL Trust, Angus Council and the Scottish Book Trust in pulling this programme together.

SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster comments: “The 4-4-2 Reading Challenge is another excellent initiative from the SPFL Trust and Scottish Book Trust that the SPFL is delighted to support. Learning to read is a cornerstone of every child’s upbringing and hopefully the reward of getting to a football match will encourage many of them to take up the challenge.”

Clubs participating in the 4-4-2 Reading Challenge are:

• Annan Athletic FC
• Arbroath FC
• Dundee FC
• Dundee United FC
• Forfar Athletic FC
• Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC
• Kilmarnock FC
• Livingston FC
• Motherwell FC
• Peterhead FC
• Raith Rovers FC
• Ross County FC
• St Johnstone FC
• Stirling Albion FC

WHY IS READING SO IMPORTANT?

Reading and writing transform lives.

Reading and writing are the most important factors in reducing the attainment gap, improve mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and dementia, and influence people’s work, relationships and the economy.

Inequality and Literacy

Children from deprived backgrounds often do not go on to higher education and are likely to earn less over the course of their lives

• By the age of three, children from the most prosperous households have heard 30 million more words spoken throughout their lifetime than children from impoverished households (Source: The Thirty Million Word Gap by Betty Hart And Todd R. Risley)
• When they are five, the vocabulary of children from low-income households is typically more than a year behind those from high-income backgrounds (Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Closing the Attainment Gap In Scottish Education Report)
• More than 1 in 4 of Scotland’s children are living in poverty and the problem is getting worse (Child Poverty Action Group)
• Helping children to develop a lifelong love of reading can reverse this situation, helping to break the cycle of poverty and improve their life chances.
• Children who are read to every day by their parents and carers have been shown to be almost 12 months ahead of their age group by the time they start school.
• Even reading to children two or three times a week can make a significant contribution to their development.

Mental Health Benefits

Scotland is facing a mental health and wellbeing crisis. One in three people suffer from mental illness each year, and the number of people with dementia is set to double in the next 25 years.

Reading and writing for pleasure has incredible benefits for mental health:

• Just six minutes of reading can reduce stress by 68%
• Reading is linked to preventing and slowing the onset of dementia.
• Reading and creative writing improve empathy, communication and self-esteem and reduce anxiety and depression
• Reading fiction can model ways of coping with alienation or problems at school, work or in relationships.
• Reading creates a greater empathy with other sectors of society and with other cultures, which can help tackle social problems such as xenophobia, sectarianism and racism and create a more tolerant, civic-minded society.

For more information about how you or your child can be involved please visit http://spfltrust.org.uk/442reading/