The Letterbox Club is a project managed by Booktrust in partnership with the University of Leicester.

It focuses on improving the educational outlook for looked-after children aged 7-11 by providing them with a parcel of books, maths activities and educational materials once every month for six months. Each child participating in the scheme will receive the parcels directly addressed to them at home. The Letterbox Club is also suitable for other vulnerable children who would benefit from receiving the parcels.

Research shows that children in care underachieve in education, but evaluation from pilots of the Letterbox Club showed a demonstrable impact. Many children began to make more significant changes in their standardised score in reading.

Booktrust received support from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to extend the programme to 1,600 children in 2007-2008. In 2009, the Letterbox Club opened to every local authority in the United Kingdom, with over 4000 children enrolled across the 125 authorities. 2010 has seen further expansion with 4500 children and 140 local authorities involved.

Each Letterbox Club parcel arrives in a brightly coloured package, addressed to the child. Each child receives a letter and a range of books that have been carefully selected by the panel at Booktrust for the children in the scheme. They also receive number games and a range of stationery items.

For example the July 2010 parcel for Year 5 contained:

The BFG by Roald Dahl
The BFG Audio CD
A numbers game
An exercise book
A pencil, rubber and pencil sharpener
A zip top wallet and calculator
A maths game at the child’s own level such as, Counting Cats Game

Over the six-month period the parcels will also include other items such as a library joining card or information about how to join a library, name plates, bookmarks and letters from a selection of children’s authors.

We are developing a varied list of possible materials to be added. This year we have included letters from Jacqueline Wilson and Anthony Browne to accompany their titles.

After being a member of the Letterbox Club for six months the child will have built up their own small library of books, a collection of number games and a variety of stationery items.

Read the report about the Leicester pilot scheme (Microsoft Word .doc download 87.5Kb)

The 2010 Book Selection Panel

Rose Griffiths, Letterbox founder, University of Leicester

Marian Keen-Downs, Letterbox Programme Manager, Booktrust

Sue Walters, Learning & Participation Coordinator, Seven Stories

Kathy Douglas, LACE Team, Durham

Dulcie Pettigrew, Children's Literature Unit, Newcastle University

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