Beyond Words - Henry Warren (Turn On The Subtitles)

WHAT I'VE LEARNT

Turnonthesubtitles

Extensive research from top academics in many countries has shown that simply turning on the subtitles for children’s television improves literacy. Dramatically. In fact it may double their chance of becoming a proficient reader, in particular those children between the ages of six and 10.

As former ministers, secretaries of state, civil servants, charity CEOs, business leaders and academics, we all now call on Sky, Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube Kids, ITV, Channel 5 and the BBC to all turn on the subtitles, by default, for children’s TV programmes. This needs to be done as a matter of urgency. This simple change will make the world of difference to millions of young people at this extremely challenging time. You can find out more at the website www.turnonthesubtitles.org.
On Sunday 12th April 2020, The Guardian published a news article introducing the TOTS Campaign and what it was trying to achieve, alongside a letter in their commentary section. The letter was signed by over 30 former ministers, secretaries of state, civil servants, charity CEOs, business leaders and academics urging broadcasters to turn on their subtitles by default for children’s content.

This isn’t a company. This isn’t a charity. This is just some like-minded people who think this idea is so blindingly obvious that it just has to happen.

It was devised by Oli Barrett MBE and Henry Warren, they are old friends who have started multiple businesses and charities over the years.

Henry Warren

Henry is a multi-award winning innovation expert and entrepreneur specialising in Education Technology. He is the co-founder & Chairman of the African education company Watobe and sits on the boards of several other charities and companies – almost always around education and technology.

He’s the former Director of Innovation for Pearson plc and the former Head of Innovation for GEMS as well as an advisor to His Highness The Aga Khan’s schools. Prior to that, he founded the school’s network Rafiki and the charity Gemin-i.

He’s a dad of three and is the alter ego of Barry T Tooth Fairy. Henry holds one of the more stupid Guinness world records involving sumo wrestlers and has also rafted the Nile holding a London traffic cone for reasons best known to himself.

Oli Barrett MBE

Oli Barrett is a serial founder who enjoys making useful connections between people and ideas. He created Tenner, the UK’s largest schools enterprise challenge, in which over 250,000 pupils have made money and made a difference in a month, starting with just ten pounds. He co-founded Volunteer It Yourself (VIY), the social venture supported by Wickes, which has helped thousands of young people to fix their own youth clubs. His first job was at Walt Disney World in Florida, and his first experience in television was working on the launch of Bob the Builder. He co-founded The Rainmakers (an innovation and incubation company) in 2004, which continues to operate out of San Francisco. From 2008, he co-created and led eleven international trade missions (including WebMission and the Clean and Cool Mission), to help companies succeed overseas. In 2011, h

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