Young readers and writers play a crucial role not only in their own personal development but in the health and future of society as a whole. Reading and writing are more than academic skills; they are tools for understanding the world, communicating ideas, and building meaningful connections. At a time when literacy engagement is declining, fostering a passion for reading and writing among young people has never been more important.
Recent results from the Annual Literacy Survey, based on nearly 114, 970 responses from children and young people aged 5 to 18 in early 2025, highlight a concerning trend. Just 1 in 3 children (32.7%) aged 8 to 18 report enjoying reading in their free time, the lowest level recorded in 20 years. Reading enjoyment has fallen by 36% since 2005, with especially steep declines among primary-aged children and boys aged 11 to 16. This “reading crisis” matters because enjoyment is closely tied to frequency, motivation, and long-term literacy development.
For young people, reading builds vocabulary, comprehension, empathy, and critical thinking skills that support learning across all subjects. Writing complements this by helping students organise their thoughts and express themselves with confidence. In a fast-paced world that leaves little room for reflection or creativity, writing offers a way to slow down, process emotions, and boost imagination. Over time, these benefits extend far beyond the page, improving conversation skills, self-awareness, and mental health.
https://family-action.org.uk/self-help/how-creative-writing-can-promote-good-mental-health/
The importance of these skills continues into adulthood and future careers. Nearly every profession relies on clear communication, whether discussion of strategy, customer feedback, presenting ideas or collaborating across different methods of virtual communication. Strong readers and writers are better equipped to learn new information and adapt to solve problems creatively.
On a broader level, fostering a love of reading and writing helps maintain the value of intellectualism in society. Reading encourages the mindset that learning can come from anything and everyone; books, articles, stories, and lived experiences. Writing allows individuals to contribute their own perspectives, preserving ideas and sharing knowledge across generations. Together, these practices strengthen democratic participation, cultural understanding, and informed discussion.
Finally, reading and writing are powerful tools for building and growing communities. Stories connect people through shared experiences, while writing gives individuals a voice within their communities. When young people are encouraged to read widely and write freely, they learn not only how to communicate, but why communication matters.
Investing in young readers and writers is an investment in thoughtful individuals, resilient careers, and a society that values curiosity, connection, and lifelong learning.
I believe reading and writing consistently from a young age does make an immense impact to your outlook on life and the abilities that can grow from strong literacy. Reading has shown me how you can be transported to another time and place and look through the eyes of someone nothing like you, love those characters all the same but it also shows you things between the lines with your abilities to infer, foreshadow and empathise.
Reading can also be incredibly informative and having the patience and attention span to commit to long pieces of work for what they can teach you will always be worthwhile, likely setting you up for an advance on new ideas.
Writing is a passion people find at all points in their life and its power can often be underestimated in a time when articles, stories and reports can be produced from intelligent computers. These pieces of content may be considered writing, except they entirely emit a writer. This is partly why I believe it is so important to cultivate a culture of learning and writing, to share, imagine and adapt with the integrity of the lived human experience.
Writing can be profoundly freeing, whether it is into a private journal after a long week of working or with intention to preserve a heartfelt story or to escape and create a new world of your own or even write about the world around you, to document or discuss or support.
Which is why we want to bring an opportunity to young writers that will allow them to grow their confidence, writing and editing skills and become part of a community of local young writers gaining experience that will benefit their futures.
We need young writers! We would love young writers to volunteer their skills and talent to contribute to our newspaper!
What you can write about:
- Original short stories or creative writing
- Writing about local charity events or school fundraisers
- Share opinions or personal perspectives
There is no minimum commitment and we are open to hearing all ideas and suggestions.
If this is something you would like to participate in please fill out the Community Writer Application linked here. https://mywokingham.co.uk/community-writer-application/ (It does require recognition of a public profile consent, volunteer role and parental or guardian consent if under 18)
