Colchester broadcaster Dermot O’Leary is spearheading a £1 million campaign to empower school pupils through reading.

The new scheme – the Essex Year of Reading – is seeking to support, inspire and empower pupils whose education has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic - all through the power of reading.

Evidence shows as well as being fun, being able to read at their age level or higher, is key to unlocking other educational and career opportunities for children and young people throughout their lives.

And it has been backed by one of Colchester’s favourite sons, Dermot O’Leary, who was born in the town and studied at Colchester Sixth Form College.

Having already gained significant support from local authors, Mr O’Leary, who penned the children’s series Toto the Ninja Cat, will kick-off a series of in-school events in the coming weeks.

He said: “The Essex Year of Reading is a wonderful scheme set-up to help children catch-up after missing time in the classroom due to Covid-19.

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“I’m really looking forward to helping young people discover a lifelong love of reading.”

Councillors, head teachers and librarians met at Hylands House in Chelmsford on Wednesday as the start of a large programme of fun activities, events and opportunities across Essex kickstarted.

The programme will focus on providing additional support through schools to help children improve their reading skills via a number of initiatives.

This will include author visits, writing workshops and activities targeted at pre-school children through to care home partnerships.

Providing greater access to books for all is also a key priority and vouchers will be available for parents and carers to buy books, while free books will also be provided for disadvantaged children.

Essex County Council’s Tony Ball, who champions education excellence, said: “Essex County Council is committed to championing equality, renewal and ambition to ensure no child in Essex is left behind or disadvantaged from the pandemic.

“We’re very excited to bring these outstanding opportunities to help boost reading for all across the county.”

A new app will also be available to download, containing an online library for children to access a range of resources.