Kids’ literacy gets off to running start in Victoria Park with Where’s Wally? theme

But where's Wally? Photograph: National Literacy Trust

The National Literacy Trust is to hold the UK’s first educational fundraiser fun run in Victoria Park on 24 March.

The run will have a ‘Where’s Wally?’ theme and participants will be given a matching costume at the start of the day. The idea for the ‘Where’s Wally?’ theme came out of the trust’s work with Walker Books, a keen supporter.

“Wally is a great character as he’s instantly recognisable by children and adults — and he’s just celebrated his 25th birthday,” said Jane Woodley, National Literacy Trust spokesperson.

The trust, now in its twentieth year, currently works with 38,000 children across the country. It estimates that 240,000 are born into poverty every year.

Programmes launched by the trust to encourage reading and literacy include Premier League Reading Stars, where players from all 20 Premier League clubs set literacy challenges and talk about their favourite books online, sharing their love of reading with pupils.

Young Readers is another programme, aimed at motivating disadvantaged children and young people to read for pleasure, under which a pupil from Hackney’s Tyssen Primary School was recently named Young Reader of the Year thanks to his improved level of reading.

Other schools the trust has worked with include: Randal Cremer Primary School, Sebright School, Thomas Fairchild Community School, Nightingale Primary School, Harrington Hill Primary School, Parkwood Primary School, Mossbourne Community Academy, Stoke Newington School, Stormont House School, The Bridge Academy Hackney and Gayhurst Community School.

A 2011 Evening Standard investigation found that one in three Hackney children started secondary school with “dramatically impaired reading abilities”.

Meanwhile the BBC revealed nine per cent of children in the borough had achieved below level three in Key Stage 2 tests carried out in 2010.

Participants in the ‘Where’s Wally?’ fun run can walk, jog or run either five or ten kilometres, and the £20 entry cost includes an official Wally costume. The run starts at 11am, with registration desks opening an hour earlier.

For more information about the fun run, the National Literacy Trust or tips on how to raise funds, go to literacytrust.org.uk/whereswally.