Children with vision impairments often face barriers to accessing books. While sighted children can easily pick up a paperback or second-hand story, audiobooks are expensive to produce and limited in availability. Without them, children with vision impairments risk falling behind their peers in literacy and may experience isolation or reduced self-esteem.

At NCW, literacy and reading is a priority for our students and we are proud to have an amazing library on site with a wide range of reading material in a choice of accessible formats. Our community are fortunate to have access to books, a librarian on site to assist with tracking down popular choices and a Braille teaching team for whom teaching Braille is their number one priority.

This World Braille Day, we are delighted to celebrate our students’ contribution to the Royal Society for Blind Children’s (RSBC) Bedtime Donations campaign — a project that brings the magic of bedtime stories to blind and partially sighted children across the UK.

Tackling the Challenge

RSBC set out to help break down barriers faced by children who are vision impaired by creating a free, app-based digital library of audiobooks — turning the everyday moment of parents reading bedtime stories into a gift that thousands of children can enjoy. We jumped at the chance to see how we could help!

How the App Works

Donate a Story: Parents and volunteers can select a story, record themselves reading it aloud, and upload it to the app. After quality checks, the recording becomes a freely available audiobook.

Listen to a Story: Children can browse the growing library and enjoy hundreds of donated recordings at no cost.

The library already holds over 400 audiobooks, with contributions from celebrities such as Alison Steadman, Jon Richardson, Ralf Little, Dr Hilary Jones and Jan Francis.

Our Students’ and Staff Role

When we heard about the campaign, we knew we had to take part. Our students and staff enthusiastically recorded stories, many of them read from Braille — making this project especially meaningful. For young listeners who are learning Braille, or may one day use it, hearing stories read in this medium is a powerful connection to their own journey of literacy.

View our video: https://youtu.be/PUfQAIZAE20

As soon as we heard about the Royal Society for Blind Children’s Bedtime Story campaign on BBC News, we knew we just had to take part! We loved the idea of children from across the UK being able to listen to stories that people have ‘donated’ and read aloud. Reading is such a special part of childhood — that magical time of snuggling up at bedtime and letting your imagination soar through hearing a story. We’ve been absolutely delighted to be involved in this wonderful campaign and are incredibly proud of our students for embracing it with such enthusiasm. Many of the stories have been read by our students in Braille and it’s especially meaningful that young VI children can hear stories read in a medium they may be learning themselves. We’re proud that our students have been able to promote both the joy of reading and the importance of Braille through their participation.”

Rachel Perks, Principal at NCW 

We were delighted when New College Worcester got in touch to ask if their students could be involved in recording stories for the Bedtime Donations app by reading them from Braille. And they’ve all done such a fantastic job of recording their stories. “Access to literature is such an important part of a child’s development, and that’s especially true for blind and partially sighted young people. It’s wonderful that the students from New College Worcester have been so enthusiastic about donating their voices to our campaign! We know that their bedtime stories will be incredibly popular with listeners on the app.

RSBC Chief Executive, Julie Davis

As an avid reader and a fan of audiobooks, I was delighted to be part of the project. My mum used to read The Famous Five to me as a child, and that was where my love of reading started. Now I’m doing A Level English Literature. To be part of the project is a privilege. It’s easy to get caught up in your own life and concerns, so it’s vital to participate in something that you know directly impacts the lives of other people in a positive way. It’s been a privilege to read stories in braille. As someone with a vision impairment, I know how transformative braille can be. Language is the way one person communicates their thoughts and feelings to another; therefore, it is vital as visually impaired people that we have a mechanism to express ourselves which is tailored to our way of thinking rather than being an adaptation of a sighted code.

Dan - NCW Student