A fun after-school club on a Bradford estate aims to help youngsters who need an extra boost with their reading and writing.

The BLADE project - Buttershaw Learning And Development Experience - will work with seven to nine-year-olds at Buttershaw Christian Family Centre.

Local primary schools are being invited to choose youngsters who would benefit from the weekly sessions, which are being run by volunteers under the leadership of a group co-ordinator who is a qualified teacher.

The centre's family support worker, Bob Gynn, said: "We hope to work with children who might be under-achieving in school. They're not disruptive but they might benefit from the one-to-one which gives them that extra boost."

Richard Lewis, acting head of Buttershaw Primary School, said pupils from Year Four would be involved.

"It's absolutely wonderful," he said. The school welcomed any schemes which would help to boost literacy, especially offering a fun environment for youngsters.

It is hoped to attract pupils from nearby Buttershaw Upper School to be mentors, and volunteers have been training with the school's Better Reading Partnership scheme.

The project will start next week, with the emphasis on fun and games.

The family centre, which runs a variety of clubs and courses for Buttershaw residents, has received Health Action Zone money for the project as well as a donation from a Baptist Church elsewhere in England.

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