THE USBORNE FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to challenge some of society’s biggest problems by creating new and exciting ways for children to learn, using games, interactive media and video. Our flagship game, Teach Your Monster to Read, has helped millions of children learn to read, becoming one of the most extensive early literacy tools available. The Usborne Foundation is a charity founded by children’s publisher, Peter Usborne MBE. Harnessing research, design and technology, we create playful media addressing issues from literacy to health. We believe that every child should be given the opportunity to learn and develop, helping them to reach their full potential in early years and beyond.
About This Cause
The Usborne Foundation was founded by children’s publisher, Peter Usborne MBE, together with his children Nicola and Martin. As founder of Usborne Publishing, Peter has over 40 years’ experience creating children’s books, which are read in many languages around the world. Both Nicola and Martin also bring with them a wealth of experience creating books and interactive educational resources for children. Together we wanted to use this knowledge to first address the ongoing crisis in early literacy, which sees too many children fail to learn to read. Our goal was to combine education, research and technology to make this difficult task both interactive and fun. With this in mind, we embarked on our first project, creating a suite of award-winning digital literacy games, called Teach Your Monster to Read. The games create a fun, playful environment in which millions of children have now tackled the first steps of reading. Teach Your Monster to Read has now been played over 100 million times. The success of Teach Your Monster to Read has led us to find new ways to help improve the lives of children through learning and education. We aim to create exciting learning experiences through engaging stories, technology, people led design and of course, fun. We’ve now also turned our focus to the growing issues with childhood healthy eating and well being. Our aim is to create new, interactive ways to help children learn. TEACH YOUR MONSTER TO READ Teach Your Monster to Read is a BAFTA-nominated series of games, which have helped millions children learn to read. Roughly 25 percent of all UK children leave primary education without being able to read well, rising to 40 percent of poorer children (published by Save the Children, 2016). Without this essential skill, it is incredibly difficult to participate in society as a whole, with significant impacts on employment and more. Our vision is a world where all children are able to read by the time they are 11 years old, providing them with an essential tool to lead a positive life. We wanted to create a tool that combined pedagogy, games and technology, to help children learn to read. We embarked on a ground-breaking design process bringing together leading academics at the University of Roehampton working with leading producers from the games and TV industries, including games studio Popleaf, and illustrator Rich Wake. The result was a suite of world-leading reading games, which combine research and design to change the way children learn. Children create their own monster, take it on a magical journey and meet a host of colourful characters along the way. All the while, children are practising the basic skills of reading. Through vivid environments and characters, the games help to make the often difficult process of learning to read both fun and accessible to all children. The product works with any phonics scheme, and is one of the most comprehensive products on the market - covering the first two years of reading. SUCCESS SO FAR: Helped over 10 million children with learning to read Played over 100 million times Twice BAFTA-nominated and multi-award winning Doubling in players and usage year on year, with over a million children playing every month One of the most extensive early-stage reading products on the market