A SUCCESSFUL literacy programme in the Liverpool City Region has given a new library to a primary school in Halton.

Hallwood Park Primary School, which is on Hallwood Park Avenue, received its first school library as part of Cradle to Career, a multi-million pound initiative from Right to Succeed.

Right to Succeed is a national charity which aims to transform the lives of children and young people in areas of deprivation and improve literacy.

The scheme was first in North Birkenhead in 2020 and is now replicating its success in Halton after launching a wider rollout across the Liverpool City Region in 2022.

Statistics gathered by Cradle to Career shows that in Halton Lea and Knowsley the number of early years students requiring moderate or severe support for speech, language and communication has dropped by 12 per cent.

“Having the funding to provide the children of Hallwood Park with such a wonderful space has been transformational to our school and the children we serve,” said Gemma Snell, interim head teacher at Hallwood Park Primary School.

“Without this funding, there is no way we could have created a space which is inviting and inspires the children to want to read.

“As soon as the children entered the room, we heard ‘I just want to read’ – what more can we say?

“It proves that resources are crucial to ignite a love of reading in children, and Cradle to Career has allowed us to make a difference to the children of Hallwood Park.”

The programme is now set to expand once again, following a £5.25million investment from Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in 2023.

“For too long, too many young people in our area have had their fates decided for them before they even set foot in a classroom, held back by a postcode lottery that dictates their future income, attainment, health and life chances,” said Steven Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.

“Fortunately, devolution has given areas like ours the opportunity to address some of these fundamental systemic problems head-on by handing power back to communities.

“Cradle to Career is a radical and bespoke approach to improving outcomes – and the results have been marked; we have helped hundreds of young people to change their lives for the better and I want to give more of our residents that same opportunity.

“This is real levelling up – and it is the Liverpool City Region leading the way in showing the rest of the country how to support the most vulnerable in our society.”