Rotary Club of Cleethorpes programmes with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Rotary Club of Cleethorpes programmes

               with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library
1. Started in March 2014, the first programme was with a local nursery. We applied for
and received a Global Grant from Rotary International, where the Dolly Parton Imagina-
tion Library is an official Partner. (Dollywood Foundation's Imagination Library for literacy)
At the moment 140 children receive book every month at the Little Stars Nursery.

Rotary Club of Cleethorpes programmes with local Primary Schools

                                      and Nurseries
1. Bursar Academy

The Rotary Club of Cleethorpes has strong links with this school, through a Rota Kids club
which we started. (Rota Kids is a club for 7-12 year old where they enjoy working on fun
activities that will benefit the school and local community.) The Imagination Library
programme needed no money from us as the programme is funded with the Pupils
Premium. It was started with 30 children

2. St. Peter’s Nursery.

These children range in age from 1 to 4. Started in 2015, 50 children are registered on this
programme, and it is funded by the Rotary Club.

3. Thrunscoe Academy

Another school that our club has close links with, the Imagination Library was started in
October 2015. Currently 30 children are receiving books every month. This is funded jointly
by Pupils Premium and our Rotary Club.

4. Dolly Parton is an Honorary Member of our club since December 2014

       American music legend Dolly Parton has just become an honorary member of

       The Rotary Club of Cleethorpes after its involvement with her worldwide book
       project. Her “Imagination Library” has boosted literacy to the under-fives by giving
       free books.

BBC Look North filming at Little Stars Nursery

The next programme

5. St Peter’s C of E Primary Academy in Cleethorpes

                    This programme was started 11th November 2016.

                           It will be funded by our Rotary Club

6.I Imagination Library at St. Joseph, s Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy

A NEW class of Cleethorpes youngsters has been handed the chance to collect free books up to the
age of five as a Rotary library project continues to expand. The Rotary Club of Cleethorpes has
funded half of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Voluntary
Academy’s nursery, with the school providing the remaining investment. The innovative scheme
sees youngsters receive a hand-selected free book every month from birth until age five, in a bid to
encourage reading and literacy skills from an early age. St Joseph’s has become the seventh school
or nursery in North East Lincolnshire to take up the initiative.

Each child receives the starter book “Peter Rabbit”

7. Queen Mary Avenue Infant and Nursery School
This programme will be launched in Autum 2018

128 children are eligible for Imagination Library Books.

Queen Mary Avenue Infant School is a community school located in Cleethorpes, England where
337 pupils ranging from 3-7 years of age attend.

8.Weelsby Academy in Grimsby

Hopefully this program will be started in 2019.

10. Ormiston South Parade Academy

This program was started 10th October 2018

The principal of this project is the Grimsby Rotary Club with the support from our club

9. We supported the project in Immingham.
After the success of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library at the Little Stars Day Nursery at
Grimsby Institute and St Peter's Children's Centre in Cleethorpes, the project has now arrived in
Immingham.
Funded by One Voice, the scheme allows children to have free books from birth to the age of
five.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has made its way to Immingham's Children Centre.
The move will allow children from Immingham, Habrough and Stallingborough to receive a free
book each month.

10. The next big project will be with the Oasis Academy Nunthorpe
This program will be launched 18th January 2019

11. Dolly Parton Imagination Library 10th Anniversary Conference

This took place on the evening of 28 June 2018 and all day of 29 June 2018 at Keepmoat
Stadium, Doncaster. The highlights included Theresa Carl from Governors Books from
Birth in Tennessee, Ginny Lunn, CEO of Beanstalk and Charlotte Hacking from CLPE.
                     The U-tube clip https://youtu.be/IZzwR2j0MJw

Quotes from some parents:

Reading is so important for children especially of this age. I always read

to my son every night at bedtime and his new favourite book is 'Peter

Rabbit. I look forward to receiving our next book in the post."

"We love the scheme Aiybha loved the Peter Rabbit books and we can't wait

to see what we get next. Thank you.

Our primary goal is: To enhance families’ home literacy environment to promote
more parent/family involvement in early literacy. It is our hope to provide a rich
literacy environment for young children and to foster meaningful and nurturing
parent-child interactions that result from reading together.

Our secondary goal is: To foster relationships between families with young children
and their future schools to facilitate children’s transition.

What difference will it make if I read aloud to my child every day?

It is our hope that every child, regardless of language, cultural, or economic differences, will
develop a healthy love of reading, have a proficient vocabulary and begin school with the
early literacy skills that are important for academic success. Sharing books together in the
home will also strengthen the parent-child bond.

There are also benefits for the community. The long-term economic and cost-saving benefits
of a proactive approach to early literacy are substantial in the potential for: reducing the need
for costly educational programmes to address the needs of struggling students; improving
NEET rates (students not in Education, Employment and Training); lowering rates of social
problems and developing the skills of North East Lincolnshire’s workforce.

  “Sharing books in the home supports much more than a love of reading; time
  together enjoying books helps build communication, listening, understanding
  and talking skills.

  “It is great to see communication and language skills improving in children.This
  highlights what a real asset the Imagination Library is and how important
  reading from an early age is. Children should be given the best start in life and
  the Imagination Library greatly helps with this.

Message from Dolly

Hello Dear Friends.

This wonderful book and all the books to follow are a special gift for you. If one
wish of mine could come true. I hope my Imagination Library gives wings to all
of your dreams.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, as your first book of this wonderful programme,
seems to be just the right place for you:
Try to be the first one up the mountain.

The highest flying dreamer in the sky.

Try your best to be inspiration.

For other that are still afraid and shy.

Try to make the most of every moment.

If you fail, get up and try again.

Try each day a little harder.

If you never try, you never win.

I hope you love these books and enjoy the precious memories they will create.

Love

Take a look at our top 10 findings.
               We’re pretty sure you’ll be grinning as big as we are.

1. Children who participated in the IL program are more likely to be performing at
   grade level and least likely to be performing below grade level than their non-
   participating peers

2. Children who participated in the IL program were more likely to score higher on
   literacy assessments, even into third grade

3. Parents of children receiving Imagination Library books say they read together
   more often and this activity, coupled with close adult-child interaction using
   Imagination Library activities, improves the child’s speaking skills and
   vocabulary

4. Skills such as maths scores and cognitive skills are significantly improved with
   participation in the Imagination Library

5. Participation in the Imagination Library program does help develop positive
   social-emotional and behavioural skills

6. Imagination Library participants are able to acquire a basic understanding of
   print and book component concepts, including separate words and letters and
   book-handling skills

7. Program participation promotes one-on-one time for reading and nurturing
   between children and adults

8. Having books in the home has been consistently proven to be a predictor of
   children’s academic success, each family build a library of as many as 60 books,
   instilling pride and a sense of self-esteem in the young recipients

9. Love and understanding of reading is shared among children, families and
   communities participating in the Imagination Library

10. Imagination Library participation may affect the overall amount and quality of
   parent-child interactions and lay the foundation for adults’ consistent
   involvement in their children’s learning and development.

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
With her tell-take looks and sweet, sultry voice, Dolly Parton has been a
country and western icon for more than half a century.

The legendary singer has sold more than 100 million records and enjoyed a
successful movie career. However, less well-known is Dolly’s philanthropy.
Since the mid-1980s, she has supported many projects through her Dollywood
Foundation, including the Rotary-supported Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Article in the Rotary April – May Edition
Don’t judge a book by its cover
WITH her tell-tale looks and sweet, sultry voice, Dolly Parton has been a country and
western icon for more than half a century. The legendary singer has sold more than
100 million records and enjoyed a successful movie career. However, less well-
known is Dolly’s philanthropy. Since the mid-1980s, this
icon of country music has supported many charities through her Dollywood
Foundation – particularly in areas of literacy. One of the main projects is the Rotary-
supported Dolly Parton Imagination Library, for which the inspiration came from her
father, Lee. “My daddy was the smartest man I have ever known,” she said. “But he
could not read or write. Early on, I decided if I were ever in a position to do
something good for kids, it would be to make sure they could read. “I am not a
person to tell people what they should do, so I thought if we could do something that
inspired kids to love books and to love reading, then maybe we could make a
difference. “After a year or so of figuring it out, we created the Imagination Library.”
Dolly set up the first Imagination Library in 1995 in her hometown in Sevier County,
Tennessee. Since then, The Dollywood Foundation has sent over 100 million free
books to children worldwide, with more than 1.3 million posted in the UK. The
Imagination Library is a free book-giving initiative devoted to inspiring a love of
reading for young children everywhere.
Every child enrolled in the Imagination Library receives a book personally addressed
to them in the post every month until their fifth birthday. All of the titles in the
Imagination Library are published by Penguin Random House and carefully selected
by a panel of experts in early childhood literacy and reading. A child enrolled from
birth to their fifth birthday will build their own home library of up to 60 books and the
programme is completely free for children and their families. In June 2014, Dolly
handed over her one millionth book to a UK child. “Every time a child comes up to
me and says ‘Thank you for the books’, I say, I love being known as The Book
Lady!”. For Rotary, this has been a perfect project working alongside Helen Hastle,
who is the Regional Director of The Dollywood Foundation UK. With access to local
schools, councils and youth services, alongside dynamic and hard-working
members, Rotary clubs have been able to deliver and successfully run Imagination
Libraries across the UK. The driving force of the Rotary effort has been Rolf Sperr
from the Rotary Club Cleethorpes, who has been instrumental in setting up five
branches alone. Dolly, incidentally, is an Honorary Member of the Lincolnshire club.
Rolf, who has been a Rotarian since 1990, says “There is a big difference between
the children who get the books and children

who do not get the books by the time they start primary school.” Rolf has worked closely
with Leonard Gelblum from the Rotary Club of Nottingham – a project which coincided
with the Midlands club’s centenary. “The Rotary Club of Nottingham is one of the oldest
clubs in the country,” explained Leonard. “It was about to enter its 100th year of
operation. “We had a talk from the Dolly Parton Foundation who spoke about a library to
the club which ticked a big box for us because literacy in Rotary is a major project. At the
same time, we discovered the importance of early intervention in education - if you can
get hold of kids before they are four or five-years-old then you can lay the foundations of
education.” The Nottingham Imagination Library now has over 3,781 children registered
and shipped over 89,000 books since starting five years ago. As a result, Nottinghamshire
City Council has produced a website called www.dollybooksnottingham.org with a voice
message from the country and western star. Dolly Parton knows that the value of Rotary
to the project is immense. “To make all of this work successfully, we have to have
partners,” she explained. “No matter how clever our idea is, it takes our local sponsors to
make this dream a reality for the children. “Since day one, local Rotary clubs expressed an
interest in what we are doing. However, we did not go big time until I was invited to speak
at the Rotary International Convention in Montreal. "We created an international
partnership that day which continues to grow over the years. “Rotary is so strong. I don’t
think you need much advice or inspiration from me. You have always dreamed big and
have done so much good for so long. I can only say ‘thank you’ and tell you that it is
always an honour to work together.” But Dolly is dreaming big. When asked about her
vision for the libraries in ten years, she said: “Our hope is for 2.5 million children to be
enrolled and receiving a book each month. It’s a big dream, but I am a mighty big
dreamer!”

Dolly Parton Imagination Library Team

May 2018 - Rotary Club of Cleethorpes
For more information: www.cleethorpesrotary.org and http://uk.imaginationlibrary.com/

NEWS

Since 2014, our club send 11,245 books to preschool
children across #NorthEastLincolnshire.
  https://t.co/weQ3PC9wUB
(https://twitter.com/TeamDollyUK/status/1056972581134307328?s=09)