Valerie Vaz MP visits Old Church Primary for World Book Day 2023

I visited Old Church C of E Primary on Friday 3 March to present the school with the books which I collected from the Publishers Association and we placed them in the School Library which is a wonderful converted Bus.

On World Book Day every child in Walsall South is given a £1 book token and Children and families can swap their £1 World Book Day Token for one of a wide range of World Book Day books at their local bookshop or supermarket from 16 February and 26 March 2023.

I am concerned that reading for pleasure is at its lowest levels in 18 years and many children have limited access to books as research has shown that reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success.

500,000 (1 in 15) children in England aged 8 – 18 say they do not own a single book, which is 1 in 10 for those eligible for Free School Meals and 1 in 5 pupils receiving Free School Meals said that the book they ‘bought’ with their World Book Day book token was the first book of their own.

I tabled an Early Day Motion which draws Parliament’s attention to World Book Day 2023 and has been signed by a cross party group MPs.

It is a pleasure to support World Book Day but every day should be World Book Day.