Manchester Airport is continuing its 80th birthday celebrations by reading its new free children’s book to local children at Haveley Hey Community School in Wythenshawe.
The book, aimed at Primary School children, is titled ‘Reach for the Sky’ and tells an enchanting story about travel, determination and achieving your dreams. Fifteen colleagues from a range of airport departments read the story to classes of children before giving copies to the school.
The airport is giving 5,000 free copies of the book to schools across the region to support children’s reading across its vast catchment area and offering aviation themed assemblies and workshops.
The airport’s first reading to school children of the book also supports the launch of the Take 10 initiative, which is part of the Read Manchester campaign from Manchester City Council and the National Literacy Trust, to promote reading and its impact on mental wellbeing. Take 10 encourages people of all ages to take 10 minutes out of their day for themselves to read to help feel happier, more relaxed, and improve memory and concentration.
Tricia Williams, Chief Operating Officer at Manchester Airport, said: “For our 80th year we wanted to do a host of activity that would inspire and inform a whole range of our stakeholders, so what better way to reach out to the flyers or workforce of the future.
“As well as being fun and entertaining our very first children’s book also informs and educates, with our staff going into assemblies to inspire pupils with their tales of airport life.
“The release of the book is just one strand of our dedicated year-round education programme at Manchester Airport. In the last year alone, our staff engaged with 15,000 pupils across our catchment area through a range of initiatives including A Level masterclasses, What’s My Job workshops and work experience programmes.”
Mike Kane, MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East and Shadow Education Minister for Schools, said: “Manchester Airport’s publication of its own children’s book is a fantastic way to support children’s reading, and I am pleased to see the first reading to students take place in Wythenshawe. Paired with the Take 10 initiative, this is a great way to highlight the importance of reading to children and the positive effect this can have on their mental wellbeing.
“As Shadow Schools Minister, the moral of the airport’s book, based around determination, achieving your dreams, and never giving up, is really important as we work to inspire and educate local children. It is great to see this added to the wealth of educational outreach the airport already does.”
