DEVON Adult and Community Learning and Tavistock College were proud to be the first in the country to pilot a course which encourages reading for pleasure with Year 7 students and their parents.

The free sessions were supported by Kathy Worrall, college librarian, and gave everyone an opportunity to unlock the magic of reading. There were visits to Tavistock Library and WHSmith, where a £10 voucher was given to each student to buy a book. Each family also benefitted from a further two free books.

Funding for the course was provided by the National Literacy Trust and offered an opportunity for West Devon to trial it before it is offered across the UK.

James O'Connell, from Tavistock College, said: 'The college is thrilled to be working with Penny Westlake and the Community Learning Team. This course fits in perfectly with our drive on building a love of reading within all of our students.

'This year we have developed a team of members of the local community and sixth formers as reading mentors, set aside curriculum time to devote to reading and introduced the national "Accelerated Reader" programme. The "Get Hooked on Books" project makes an essential link with parents and life out of school, involving adults and their children in engaging with reading.

'We are thrilled with the success of this first course and hope it will lead to many more community reading schemes and courses.'

There will also be a catch-up session in September to see what impact the course has made and how reading habits have changed for the students.

If you would like to know about future courses on how to spark an interest in reading then call or text Penny on 0781 697 3926 or e-mail [email protected]">[email protected]