THE first indication of the success of the Oxfordshire Reading Campaign that children at 29 schools saw their literacy level advance by more than a year in just four months is exceptionally encouraging.

When this newspaper first started focusing on the appalling literacy results in the city there was almost a resignation or fatalism amongst a minority that this was just how it is.

Thankfully Oxfordshire County Council, headteachers and staff at dozens of schools and the National Literacy Trust recognised that this was not a case of failing children but a failing education system and moved to rectify it.

Now, of course this is just one set of results from 29 schools. It is not time to proclaim Mission Accomplished.

But it does demonstrate that a difference can be made when the entire community embraces a scheme.

We’ve said it countless times that reading and writing are foundation blocks for future learning and every child must be given the basic skills to go and achieve whatever he or she can.

We all have a duty to make that happen and so we salute the teachers and volunteers, the heads promoting the campaign, the education officials and the parents supporting their children.

And let’s praise those children in this first wave of the scheme because ultimately, this is their success.