A book a month is helping Poppy build a brighter future

When Poppy first became involved with Reading Champions, she faced multiple barriers at both home and school.

Aged just 5 years old, Poppy already had diagnosed speech and language difficulties, limited vocabulary, school attendance of just 65%, and little interest in books. Her family was receiving support from a social worker due to concerns about her education and home environment.

Poppy’s mum was managing her own health problems while caring for a younger child with autism. Without access to a car, attending appointments meant taking two buses, making speech and language appointments difficult to reach. As a result, appointments were often missed.

For experienced primary school teacher Nicola Crompton, Poppy’s situation highlighted an opportunity for change.

Passionate about helping every child discover the joy of reading, Nicola has spent her career seeing how books can transform children’s confidence, language and life chances. But she also recognised that not every family knows just how powerful sharing books can be, or has the books, knowledge and confidence to support their child’s early reading at home. When families are also managing significant challenges, accessing this support can be even harder.

Through her Let Teachers SHINE project, Nicola shares her teaching expertise with social workers across Cumberland, helping them to make shared reading a simple, purposeful part of their work with families. Children aged five and under can receive a free book every month through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, while social workers model ways to enjoy those books together. In doing so, Reading Champions helps give parents the knowledge, skills and confidence to share books and support their child’s early learning, while giving children positive experiences of reading beyond the classroom.

For Poppy’s social worker, shared reading also offered a way to build trust.

Sitting alongside the family and enjoying a story together helped create positive, relaxed interactions and challenge some of the anxiety or negative perceptions that can surround social work involvement. As a respectful, trusting relationship developed, Poppy’s mum felt increasingly able to explain the practical challenges she was facing.

This deeper understanding enabled the social worker to advocate more effectively for the family. She asked the school to provide reminders about speech and language appointments rather than relying solely on letters being sent home. She also supported the family to secure additional nursery hours for Poppy’s younger sibling, helping to ease some of the pressures at home.

This relationship-based approach lies at the heart of Nicola’s vision. Rather than treating reading as another task for families to complete, Reading Champions uses stories to create moments of connection between children, parents and trusted professionals. For Poppy’s family, those moments gradually became part of everyday life.

During home visits, the social worker simply asked whether she could read a few pages with the children. Poppy’s mum watched how she shared the stories and gradually grew in confidence to do the same. What began with the social worker modelling shared reading developed into a reassuring bedtime routine for the family, supporting Poppy’s language development while creating valuable time for parent and child to connect.

The social worker said: “Mum has even started getting books from her local charity shop, beginning to get a good selection! Her confidence is growing and she enjoys the time in an evening reading the children a bedtime book.”

Reading also became part of the social worker’s direct work with Poppy in school. Whenever possible, they met in the library, where Poppy could choose books that interested her and enjoy sharing stories in a familiar environment. She was encouraged to talk to her class teacher about the books she enjoyed, helping to strengthen links between home, school and social care.

School staff reported noticeable improvements in Poppy’s concentration in class. During the Reading Champions support period, she also made remarkable progress in speech and language, to the point where she no longer required speech and language support.

Today, Poppy eagerly greets her social worker at the door holding a book, ready to share a story together.

And Poppy’s story is not an isolated one. Many families involved in Reading Champions began the project with very few or no children’s books at home. With access to books and practical support from a trusted professional, families are beginning to build shared reading into everyday life – growing parents’ confidence and helping children connect more deeply with books and with the people around them.

Reading Champions came about because a teacher saw an opportunity to bring educational expertise into the relationships social workers already have with families. With SHINE’s backing, that idea is showing how something as simple as sharing a story can open the door to much wider change.

Poppy’s story is a powerful reminder of what can happen when families are given the right books, the right support and the confidence to use them.

 

  • The social worker supporting Poppy has since received national recognition for her practice through the Social Worker of the Year Awards, which recognise impact, outstanding practice and innovation.
  • Reading Champions has also contributed to wider recognition for Cumberland’s work. Following a nomination from the Director of Children’s Services, their Quality Assurance and Safeguarding team was selected as a winner of the NWADCS IMPACT Awards (Inspiring Meaningful Progress Across Children’s Teams), with Reading Champions identified as one of two projects contributing to the award.