Fathers Reading Every Day is a well-evaluated supported reading programme we have imported from the US, and are now running in primary schools and early years settings.

We are running FRED for Year 1 and 2 children in ten primary schools (seven in Lambeth, London, and three in Salford, Greater Manchester); and for 1,200 Foundation Years children across four local authorities (Leicester, Lambeth, Southwark and York). We are also opening up a volunteer-run model of FRED to schools and other family learning settings, including children’s centres and nurseries, across the country.

The FRED for Years 1 and 2 pilot in Lambeth and Salford is funded by SHINE, the Walcot Foundation and the JJ Charitable Trust. The FRED for Foundation Years project is funded by the Department for Education as part of its National Prospectus Grant programme 2013-15. For more details about the volunteer-run FRED model, visit the FSW website.

In the FRED programme, fathers spend 15 minutes a day for two weeks, reading with their children – then 30 minutes a day for a second two weeks. Each father documents the amount of time spent reading to their children and the number of books read. At the end the school or other family learning setting holds an event to celebrate all the great work the dads and children have been doing.

FRED in the US has been shown to improve children’s reading accuracy, comprehension and rate of reading; their writing; and their behaviour. It can also improve attainment in maths – and acts as a great ‘way in’ to establishing wider engagement with fathers. Although FRED is a four week programme we expect it to instil new reading habits that can last for the child’s primary school life and beyond.

Read our April 2013 field report on FRED at Jubilee Primary School, Tulse Hill.

Read our information sheet on how to Become a FRED centre.

To find out more, and/or register your interest in FRED, please email Charlie Rice on c.rice(at)fatherhoodinstitute.org or call him on 07824 888439.