An initiative to address the poor literacy skills of young people in care in Scotland has been backed by children's charity NCH Scotland and the Scottish Executive.
Reading Rich is a collaboration between the Scottish Book Trust and NCH, which will involve more than 50 children in three regions during its first phase.
The project initially hopes to develop a rich reading environment for children between the ages of three and 16 in residential and foster care homes in central Scotland, Moray and the Western Isles.
The move comes weeks after an Audit Scotland report showed that 60per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in care were failing to pass either Standard Grade English or maths.
The executive will provide [pounds]90,000 for the three-year project and fund a full evaluation of the initiative.
Peter Peacock, minister for children and education, said: "We want all our young people to get the very most from their education, no matter what their background is."
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