The WHSmith Trust
The WHSmith Trust is an independent registered charity (registered charity no.1013782) working to support the local communities in which WHSmith staff and customers live and work.
It funds three main types of causes:
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Large scale literacy projects, currently through a long-standing partnership with the National Literacy Trust;
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Local schools through donations to fund books and other literacy resources;
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Employee nominated charities, schools and other good causes by matching money from staff fundraising and time spent volunteering.
Young Readers Programme with the National Literacy Trust
A major part of our funding goes towards projects to promote literacy, and we work in partnership with WH Smith PLC and the National Literacy Trust. Research findings show that children who read for pleasure have significantly better life chances than those who don’t and promoting the love of reading is the principal objective of our literacy programmes.
We have helped to deliver fun literacy-focused events for over 30,000 children and given away over 75,000 books.
We have supported the National Literacy Trust’s Young Readers Programme since 2005. Many children in disadvantaged areas leave primary school unable to read well. The Young Readers Programme motivates children in these areas to read for enjoyment through direct engagement and activities that celebrate the fun of reading. Children can put into practice the skills taught as part of the programme and select three new books of their choice to keep. Our partnership projects have reached thousands of children across the UK, through summer play-schemes, family reading programmes and projects promoting peer reading.
Our current funding for the National Literacy Trust is supporting reading in schools in five cities across the country and the delivery of ‘live literature’ events to bring children into direct contact with authors, storytellers and illustrators. Our work is bringing stories to life for those children and inspiring them to explore the world of books and reading.
Schools Giveaway
Each year, we make donations to hundreds of schools across the UK to enable them to choose books to improve their library facilities.
Over the past decade, we have donated over £200,000 worth of books to help stock school libraries
Supporting Employee Fundraising and Volunteering
We encourage WHSmith employees to be actively involved in their local communities and many colleagues fundraise or volunteer their time for charities, community groups and other good causes. The WHSmith Trust matches employee fundraising or the value of time spent volunteering up to £1,000. The Trust also makes grants to employees who are members of a school parent-teacher association or a Board of Governors.
Our current project with the National Literacy Trust – delivering Live Literature events
The project focuses on schools in five areas of the UK, each identified as needing additional support for children’s literacy. These areas are Glasgow, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Swansea and Swindon. The funding provides training for teachers to support reading for enjoyment, resource materials (both digital and hardcopy) for children and teachers, and three fun reading events for each participating child. The third and final event is an in-person author event, with a morning of storytelling, either at school or an external venue such as the local library. In addition to each child receiving a book, all participating schools are provided with an annual gift of £150 of books for their libraries.
Recent feedback clearly illustrates the benefit of the programme:
- 95% of teachers felt the Young Readers Programme had been effective in motivating the children they work with to read
- 100% said it had a positive impact on children’s reading enjoyment
- 10% more children described themselves as enjoying reading in comparison to before the programme
- Participating children also showed increased confidence in their reading skills and increased motivation to read a broader range of materials
Children taking part in the project commented on how they felt about reading:
“Excited because it's like a holiday in your heard."
"I felt great (choosing the books) because I like reading but I don't have many books so I couldn't read as much as I wanted to"
Teachers from some of the participating primary schools commented:
"Some of the boys in my class are reluctant readers. The have LOVED receiving books of their own linked to areas of interest - football, Minecraft etc."
"It provides an opportunity for pupils from a disadvantaged area to have the thrill of owning a new book of their choice, also to meet an author."
