tips & advice

Developing a reading-for-pleasure culture in our school communities requires more than encouraging children to pick up a book and read right now. While this is a fantastic and worthwhile starting point, the ripple effect of nurturing avid readers who choose to read, rather than read because they are told to, goes far beyond the here and now so a whole-school approach is most likely to be successful. 

Children who read for fun are more likely to be happy and successful in life. (The Reading Agency, 2023)

The benefits of reading for pleasure for children (and adults!) are widely heralded and strongly supported by extensive studies, compelling statistics, and irrefutable research...

The single biggest way to support children academically and emotionally at home is to encourage them to read. The importance of fostering a positive relationship between home and school is highlighted by Ofsted in their ‘Schools and Parents’ report (2011) –

“Parental engagement can be a powerful lever for raising achievement in schools and there is much research to show the value of schools and parents working together to support pupils’ learning.”

This is a guide to help boost reading confidence by encouraging families to have fun sharing books at home, even after children start to read on their own.

Reading together in a fun and relaxed way not only helps children get hooked on reading, but it is also one of the best ways for families to bond, spend quality time together and make memories that will last a lifetime. Sharing books with children and talking about the story will also help to deepen u

Our Enjoy Guided Reading range has become a go-to resource for busy teachers. To launch the new term we’d love for you to try one in the classroom for free. We’re sure once you’ve done so, you’ll be keen to come back for more. Our aim is always to give teachers the best tools for the job, saving time and delivering lessons that provide positive learning outcomes.   

We have one FREE resource for each year group from 1–6 available, so please share this with your colleagues and teacher friends.  Every school can download all six free resources with no catches.

FREE RESOURCES

Year 1: Teacher notes for I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Year 2: Teache

After laying the foundations of reading with phonics, nothing captures the attention of a newly independent reader more than the lure of a great book. Making sure the very best books make it into your pupils’ hands will not only benefit them, it will also make your job of inspiring young readers and boosting progress in reading much easier.

Making informed choices about the books you use in English lessons and fill your library shelves with will also help you to answer questions that might come up in your next Ofsted deep dive. Whilst the DfE Reading Framework emphasises the importance of ensuring children are given high-quality texts, there is little guidance on what a high-quality text looks like or how the calibre of a text can be recognised and measured. Being able to identify quality literature will ensure children are exposed to the very best, most current fiction, including titles that reflect modern society and represent more diverse authors, rather than relying on a stagnant d

Is you brain scrambled trying to hatch ideas to keep your pupils reading over the Easter break? Look no further than these cracking challenges to involve families, eggcite children and encourage them to peck up a book over the school holiday.

Download these challenges and accompanying activity sheets for FREE! Print them off and pop them into book bags or email home. 

“Over the last two decades, there has been a deepening recognition of the fundamental importance of improving reading standards on a child’s future academic achievement, wellbeing and success in life.” (The Reading Framework DfE, 2022)

Recent government guidance highlights the importance of children ‘keeping-up’ with reading progression, rather than having to ‘catch-up’. Schools must follow a Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme (SSP) to ensure robust plans are in place to help children quickly master the foundations of phonics and then build upon these basic mechanics of reading towards fluency.

“Yet despite our best efforts, too many children fall behind in literacy…and the gap in literacy attainment grows substantially during Key Stage 2.”

(Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 EEF, November 2021)

In fact, in 2019 (the

Mental health and wellbeing go hand-in-hand and are not only central to promoting effective learning and future successful, independent living, they are ESSENTIAL for helping children and young people develop and thrive.

Focusing on improving a child’s mental health and wellbeing will help them to cope with key life events such as stress, trauma and physical ill-health. Not only are children with better mental wellbeing more likely to be engaged in lessons, better behaved and make more progress but they are also more likely to deal better with stressful events and recover more quickly from illness.

Posters can brighten up any library space as they capture the attention and enable discussion, which in turn encourages students to visit. When used as part of a wider library or classroom display, posters have the power not only to promote specific books but to introduce students to new subjects and concepts, encouraging them to think deeply, investigate widely and broaden their horizons.

Posters are perfect for all your students but especially reluctant and struggling readers. They are visually engaging with clear and concise information so the material can be absorbed quickly, even at a glance. Whether it be a quote, a scientific principle or a profile of a popstar, posters can motivate and focus students in a way that other learning aids may not.

When 65% of people worldwide find visual learning more effective it is crucial to use images and graphics to impart information within schools. Posters are one of the best (and easiest) ways to effectively achieve this in a

A study conducted by Renaissance Learning in 2020 showed that 63% of teachers expected that lockdown — and all the limitations that come with it — would increase the existing attainment gap for disadvantaged students. Perhaps more alarmingly, over a third of teachers indicated that they did not feel their school was prepared to measure, and subsequently act on, those attainment differences upon returning to the classroom.

Filling gaps will no doubt be an ongoing priority for teachers as we navigate a post-lockdown landscape, with key areas of learning taking priority in the mission to catch up. Few areas are more key than literacy, and we know it is going to be a race against time to try and accelerate some students back up to the level of their peers, to reinforce the key skills that will enable them to access the rest of the curriculum. To that end, we wanted to highlight some of our best ‘reading for pleasure’ resources to provide as clear a path as possible — particularly at the al

With infection rates on the rise, we are all trying our best to keep each other safe but also ensure children still have access to books.  We know reading is key to children’s success both academically and emotionally and primary schools are absolutely crucial in teaching literacy and encouraging reading for pleasure. 

We spoke to one primary school librarian, Jane Hitchin, who works in West Kirby Primary School in Merseyside about the role she played in the school’s reading activities before COVID and what she is doing now to ensure children continue to have a chance to develop a passion for reading.