NINE primary schools in the BD5 area of Bradford will be joining together again next week for their second reading and stories event.

BD5 Bedtime Stories will take place on Tuesday, in collaboration with the National Science and Media Museum and Bradford City Library.

It follows on from the first event in October 2016, which attracted around 1,500 people and inspired families to share stories and read together at home.

Pupils from All Saints C of E Primary, Bankfoot Primary, Bowling Park Primary, Marshfield Primary, Newby Primary, Rainbow Primary, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, St Matthew’s C of E Primary, and St Stephen’s C of E Primary will be taking part in the event.

All the schools work together in one Local Authority Partnership group, and have organised the event together.

At the event there will be poetry sessions, workshops, school teacher read-alongs and more to inspire families to read more.

Children are being invited to attend in their pyjamas.

Every family which attends the event will also receive a goody bag and book thanks to event sponsors The Book Trust, Madeleine Lindley, and Kemira Chemicals.

Fiona Phimister, school development coordinator at Bowling Park Primary, said: “Reading at home has such a huge impact on children; not only on their reading ability but also on their love of books and family relationships.

“Some of my best memories from my childhood are reading with my parents at home.

“That is why our school, alongside the other eight primary schools involved, are looking forward to the BD5 Bedtime Stories event so much.

“We can’t wait to share with the families from our local area all the wonderful activities we have in store for them - author workshops, live draw-alongs and lots more.

“We want to inspire as many families as possible to share stories and have fun reading at home.”

The event aims to develop a love of reading in Bradford’s children, as the new National Curriculum places it at the forefront of school improvement plans.

Meanwhile, a report by Oxford University Press showed just ten minutes of reading a day with children can dramatically improve their reading ability, as well as improve family relationships and great positive memories of books.

The National Science and Media Museum is one of the event’s hosts.

A spokesman for the museum said: “Bedtime Stories is something that we’ve been involved in developing alongside schools in BD5.

“It’s important to encourage families to read together and improve literacy levels - inviting them to take part in all these fun activities in our museum and the City Library is a great way to do that.”