A new scheme in Camborne designed to improve young people’s reading and writing has been given a boost with a £10,000 grant from national education charity, the Ernest Cook Trust.

The Story Republic, run by Kernow Education Arts Partnership, will work with 20 local primary and secondary schools, involving children with professional writers, cartoonists, performers and other artists. Workshops will take place in The Writer’s Block, based on the Cornwall College campus in Camborne.

“Using writing for a purpose and learning from professional writers, we aim to improve the literacy of these children and young people by creating a love of writing,” said Amanda Harris, director of Kernow Education Arts Partnership.

As well as offering term-time sessions for schools, the Writer’s Block will be open to the community, with after-school clubs for young writers, Saturday morning story sessions for parents and children, and writers’ workshops for adults.

The grant donor, the Ernest Cook Trust, is one of the UK's leading educational charities, and is rooted in the conservation and management of the countryside. It owns and manages 22,000 acres of landed estates across five counties in England.

ECT actively encourages children and young people to learn from the land through hands-on educational opportunities on its estates and by giving grants – in the past year, nearly 32,000 youngsters visited its estates. Each year its Trustees distribute £1.8m to a range of education initiatives.