A WORCESTER school is appealing for businesses to help with a new literacy project aimed at involving parents with reading.

St Clement's CE Primary School, in St John's, is making Storysacks for parents and carers.

A Storysack is a large cloth bag containing a children's book and supporting materials to stimulate reading activities.

To bring the book to life there are soft toys depicting the main characters, objects relating to items in the story, a non-fiction book relating to the fiction theme, an audio tape and a language game based on the book

They are intended for parents and carers to use at home with their children, giving them confidence to enjoy books together.

"Not every parent finds it easy to read stories but, with the supporting toys and games a Storysack offers, all parents can successfully share books with their children at a variety of levels," said headteacher Maggie Goodwin.

"It's intended to promote good quality time spent together at home, to develop communication skills and early literacy skills and also to be a time of enjoyment and fun," said Mrs Goodwin.

The sacks can be bought ready-made but the school is making its own. A series of workshops has been set up with the help of Worcester College of Technology to help parents make them.

However, each sack costs between £20 and £30 to make and the school needs around 50 if it is to offer each family a weekly sack.

"We're searching for local companies to sponsor a sack and in return we would advertise the name on it," said Mrs Goodwin.

"As a community school we're asking St John's businesses to support this worthwhile self-help project for the youngest members of our community."

Anyone who can help is asked to call Mrs Goodwin on 01905 420562.