The power of reading how the next government can

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THE POWER OF READING
How the next government can
unlock every child’s potential through reading

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Published by
Save the Children on behalf of the 
Read On. Get On.
campaign 
1 St John’s Lane
London EC1M 4AR
UK
[phone]
savethechildren.org.uk
First published 2015
© The Save the Children Fund 2015
The Save the Children Fund is a charity registered in England and Wales 
(213890) and Scotland (SC039570). Registered Company No. 178159
This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method 
without fee or prior permission for teaching purposes, but not for resale. 
For copying in any other circumstances, prior written permission must
be obtained from the publisher, and a fee may be payable.
Typeset by Grasshopper Design Company
Printed by Page Bros Ltd
Acknowledgements
This report was written by Kayte Lawton and Hollie Warren for the
Read On. Get On.
campaign, with support from Jerome Finnegan and
Gareth Jenkins.
We would like to thank colleagues from all the 
Read On. Get On.
coalition 
members for their input. Particular thanks to Kiran Gill from Teach First,
Anne Fox from The Communication Trust, Mary Hartshorne from ICAN
and Jonathan Douglas from National Literacy Trust.

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CONTENTS
Executive summary 
iv
Introduction
 
1
1 The role of early education in children’s development
of reading skills
 
3
Early language skills and reading at 11 
3
What drives early language development? 
3
The role of early education 
4
The quality of early education in England 
5