Larne dads and kids reading every day

Steven Workman and his children Ellie and Amber Workman attend the launch night of FRED at Action for Childrens Larne parental support project.

The charity is the first organisation in Northern Ireland to deliver the FRED programme – Fathers Reading Every Day – to a group of dads in the Larne Parental Support Project based in St Anthony’s Primary School.

FRED is a “simple, effective and sustainable intervention” that encourages dads to read to their children.

Research has shown that this can dramatically improve children’s reading ability.

The launch event has been hailed a “huge success” with Action for Children staff, kids and dads joining for the opening night.

Claire McKay, of the Action for Children Larne Parental Support Project, explained: “We were delighted with the turn out and support we received for the opening night.

“We will supplement this programme with a reading library for the children to choose their books and return them after reading with dad. This would be an additional service to what we currently provide but will help us to further enable early learning and development of children.

“We also feel this additional service will help us to engage fathers as this has historically been quite difficult.

“This is a really good opportunity for us to raise the profile of Action for Children and we are very excited about it. We are also working in partnership with Moyle Primary School in Larne and one of their teachers will be assisting with the programme and encouraging some dads from Moyle Primary School to attend.”

The FRED group is running for three more weeks on Wednesdays, from 6.00pm – 7.00pm, at Larne Parental Support Project based in St Anthony’s Primary School, Fairway, Larne.