About Us — Pop Up Projects CIC

We capture the changes that occur in schools due to Pop Up Festival. This can include everything from ‘wellbeing’ (enjoyment, confidence, creativity, self expression, resilience) to ‘behaviours’ (independent reading and writing, including at home) and ‘skills’ (reading, vocabulary, writing, illustration, teacher practice) to ‘achievements’ and even ‘attainment’ (where schools participate over three or more years). We collaborate with schools to find the best ways to evidence this change and justify budget spends.

Our Impact (tracking pupils and teachers over 3 years, 2016-2018)

Pupils

79% rated their book ‘good’ and ‘excellent’, 91% loved their author workshop & 80% would read another book by the same author
85% increased their independent reading and 80% their independent writing frequency
16% increase in boys who looked forward to reading ‘often’/ ‘all the time’, closing the original 15% gender gap to just 1% by year 3

SEN Pupils

In one SEN school the percentage of pupils who made progress above expectation in writing tripled from 29% to 91% over 3 years
In the same school no English GCSEs were taken in 2016 – but 31 were achieved in 2017, 46 in 2018, and 85 in 2019

Teachers

89% learned new skills from the author that would influence their literacy teaching
93% wanted to work with another book by the same author
89% of teachers saw ‘ reluctant readers’ engage in literacy more than usual

To find out more email Jasmine at education@pop-up.org.uk

Pop Up Projects are a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, established in 2011. Since 2015 we have been an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation – NPOs represent “some of the best arts practice in the world, and play a vital role in helping meet the Arts Council’s mission”.

We firmly believe that access for all children and families to the broadest range of published, live and digital literature is a universal right.

In all our work we facilitate access to rich and meaningful literary experiences for children and young people, schools (primary, secondary, SEN) and families – especially in diverse, deprived, isolated and otherwise challenged communities.

We achieve this principally through our work with schools, particularly Pop Up Festival, during which we work with whole schools and key stages to place authors and their contemporary books at the heart of literacy/English learning and teaching. We also facilitate artist-led participatory and collaborative activities, connecting and resourcing exceptional artists to co-create great literature and stories with children and young people. We often work in partnership with libraries, museums, galleries and other arts / cultural spaces.

Children’s authors are exceptional role models and often gifted teachers; by harnessing their story-crafting skills we develop imaginative approaches to cultivating change in reading and writing attitudes, behaviours and skills. We work with over 300 published authors – from star names to first-time published – and every major children’s publisher in the UK. Our work invests in the literature economy by commissioning authors (and never asking them to volunteer) and by purchasing books at a modest discount (because books aren’t free) so that publishers earn a little.

We are also heavily involved in nurturing and investing in diverse talent. Projects like Pathways into Children’s Publishing aim to ensure that the next generation of children’s authors is more ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse. We are champions of translation and multilingualism, giving voice to the under-represented and facilitating international connections and cultural exchange.

Everything we achieve, we achieve through collaboration and partnership working locally, regionally, nationally, internationally.