FAQs for schools

All over the country, the attainment of looked after children is much lower than it should be and it results in very poor educational outcomes for young people at the age of 16, with very few staying on at school after that.

The programme, managed by Booktrust, started in Leicester when foster carer and maths teacher, Rose Griffiths, wanted to find an enjoyable way of helping children in care to improve their reading and maths and to support foster carers who wanted to help the children they looked after. The programme is also suitable for other children who would benefit, such as those placed for adoption or for post-adoption support.

Several projects in the past have provided books or reading support to young people in care, but this programme is one of the first to combine maths and reading, and to provide that support over a sustained period of time directly to the child.

For many children it’s the first time they have had a letter or a parcel through the post, and for many it is the first time they have had books of their own.

The parcel contents for the year - books, stationery, printed maths games and other items - are ordered by the Letterbox Club team at Booktrust and delivered to our warehouse in February and March. The warehouse packs the parcels prior to each dispatch, then sends them to your school, unsealed. Once schools have received the parcels, they personalise and post them or give them to the children.
 
For schools ordering for large cohorts (more than 15 children), parcels can be delivered to you on a monthly basis, for you to then post to the child’s home address or give them to take home.

For schools with less than 15 children enrolled, there are two dispatches: First, schools receive the May-August parcels and then schools receive the September-October parcels. We can sometimes provide alternative delivery schedules for individual schools, on request.

The May to October schedule means children get the parcels as they come to the end of either Year 1, 3, 5 or 7, during the summer holiday (which can be a time when children’s reading and maths attainment dips) and as they start Year 2, 4, 6 or 8, aiming to ease the transition into the new school year.

Each parcel has a letter to the child, at least two books, a maths game at the right level for the child and a mixture of stationery. Many of the parcels also contain additional materials such as a letter from a children’s author.

Each school that is taking part decides which children they will invite to be members of the Letterbox Club. As well as looked after children, the programme is also suitable for other children who you think would benefit.

Schools can enrol as few or as many children as they wish. This has varied depending on individual capacity to run the programme. Many have said that it would be a help to vulnerable children who are 'on the edge' of being in care.

This will vary as each school that is taking part decides which children they will invite to be members of the Letterbox Club. Some schools have not had to address this, but schools that have suggested the following:

• We give out the parcels discreetly to the children involved
• The parcels are given out from school to Parents and Carers usually without the children knowing so they think they have been delivered to them personally. The children love this.
• It is explained as being another Pupil Premium intervention opportunity
• I give the parcels to the parents/carers with the letter inside from myself/school. This then stops questions being asked from other children

Research and Evaluation is an important part of the Letterbox Club. In its pilot phase, the programme had a comprehensive system to check its effectiveness. The children were given a maths assessment and a reading test before and after the six months when they received their Letterbox parcels and they were also assessed for their interest in reading and books.

The results showed some very promising improvements in children’s reading and maths and a high level of enthusiasm for the books and games we included. Many children involved in the pilots made significant gains in their standardised reading scores and ongoing feedback from local authority coordinators is extremely positive.

On request, we send out questionnaires to local authority Looked After Children's Education (LACE) teams, to find out what the children and carers think about the contents of each parcel and we have also interviewed a sample of children to get detailed information about how they used the materials they were sent.

Here are some comments from carers:

'Andy loves the stories that are funny and he enjoys the extra things in the pack, like pens and note books. It helped us do more with him - the maths games were great.' Carer of boy aged nine

'Lottie has all the books on show in her room. We both enjoy reading and playing the games. She loves reading in bed; it helps her drift off to sleep. She keeps her books close to the bed.' Carer of girl aged nine

We’re currently looking into a practical, ongoing approach surrounding feedback and evaluation. Feedback forms are available for coordinators to give to carers and children taking part, and many coordinators link elements of the Letterbox Club to target setting, for example as part of PEP meetings or school targets.

Booktrust is unable to hold contact details for the children due to data protection and therefore schools are required to send out the parcels.

This involves personalising the parcels with the child’s name and address, and delivering or giving the parcels to the children.

Pupil Premium Plus is a viable way to pay for the programme, as it is to be ‘used for the benefit of a looked after child’s educational needs’. If your school is using the programme for children who are socially disadvantaged, Pupil Premium can also be used to pay for Letterbox Club.
You could let parents know about the Letterbox Club programme to encourage parents to tell you if they are pupil premium eligible.

From time to time we receive donations that we in turn allocate to a school unable to subscribe to Letterbox Club due to lack of initial funding, so they can trial the scheme in their area and see how it can work for their children.