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Who: British Land and the National Literacy Trust

 Objective: Research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than a family’s socio-economic status. The National Literacy Trust, whose mission it is to promote literacy, has partnered with British Land to promote reading for fun in disadvantaged communities. The Young Readers Programme intends to both teach kids how to choose books and encourage them to read outside of the classroom.

Strategy: About 3,000 kids from 12 regions spanning from Edinburgh to Plymouth, took part in the Young Readers Programme last year. The programme is comprised of three parts: the first trains teachers to encourage youth literacy, the second involves events at schools and the third allows schoolchildren to visit retailers at British Landowned shopping centres. This helps take reading outside of the school environment and encourages kids to associate reading with other enjoyable activities. British Land employees not only visit the schools involved in the programme, but help run the events at the shopping centres.

 The company’s involvement allows it to build relationships with participating retailers at its shopping centres and to develop stronger ties and better understanding of the local areas in which it operates, a longstanding objective for British Land. The programme has a 96% success rate across three KPIs.

Rationale: “British Land’s shopping centres often have connections to the local area. This is a great way for British Land to connect with kids in their areas and engage with their shopping centres. The staff welcome the kids into the sites to have a unique experince doing things they don’t normally do. The British Land team is in a great place to make that happen,” Jason Vit, senior programme manager at the National Literacy Trust says. A Liverpool-based teacher says, “This has been one of the most constructive outings during my time at the school.”