Jon Biddle & reviews

Jon Biddle, English lead and NEU rep at Moorlands Primary in Norfolk, is passionate about fostering a love of reading for pleasure. Here he shares ideas and tips for schools to try.

A gift that keeps on giving – for life

I AM writing soon after hearing that my school, Moorlands Primary Academy, in Great Yarmouth, was announced as the joint winner of the 2021 Farshore Reading for Pleasure Whole School Award, alongside Lapal Primary School in Halesowen.

We’ve been working on developing our school approach to Reading for Pleasure for several years and it’s wonderful to have the efforts of our staff, children and families acknowledged.

The numerous benefits of Reading for Pleasure are increasingly recognised in schools: improved reading and writing, broader vocabulary, higher levels of empathy, a better understanding of different cultures, and increased community participation are just some of them.

An oft-quoted study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2002 reported that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. Schools would be unwise to ignore this in the never-ending SATs race.

Society benefits in the long term

The real impact of creating lifelong readers isn’t measurable at the end of a half-term, an academic year or even a key stage. It comes further down the line, when those readers are reaping its rewards and society as a whole is benefiting. The Government needs to trust education professionals and understand that not everything in school is a quick fix where microscopic percentage changes in data need to be plotted on a line graph every few days.

Earlier this year, I received a message from a pupil I’d taught almost a decade ago. They wanted to let me know they had just completed their first year studying criminology at the University of London and were sure that having a strong reading culture at primary school was a major factor in their educational success.

It reminded me of an incident that took place in my local Kwik Fit a couple of years ago. I was waiting to hear how much of my salary the car was going to cost this time, when one of the mechanics who’d been working on it came over, shaking his head sadly, as mechanics are wont to do, and told me that it was going to be expensive, mate.

He then smiled, thanked me for encouraging him to read the Alex Rider series when he was in my class 15 years previously and told me that he still loved reading (try and measure that, Ofsted).

Almost 35 per cent of primary children are from a minority ethnic background, so it is important your choice of books reflects this

Leaving a legacy of lifelong readers

I was desperately hoping that his next sentence would include the phrase “50 per cent discount” but it wasn’t to be. The fact he actually remembered and cared enough to bring it up meant a huge amount and, in reality, encounters like this are the reason most of us stay in the profession. It’s certainly not because of the pay, workload or conditions. If the fact that I’ve helped create lifelong readers ends up being my legacy to teaching, I’m fine with that.

In November, the fourth Reflecting Realities report from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, which explores ethnic representation in children’s books, was released. It shows a steady upwards trend, with 15 per cent of the books published in 2020 featuring characters of colour.

However, when taken alongside the fact the 33.9 per cent of children attending primary school in England are from a minority ethnic background, it shows that there’s still a long way to go before all children are represented in the books they read.

Please bear this in mind when purchasing books for the classroom and deciding on which books to read. I’ll be writing more about this hugely important issue in a future article. Enjoy the rest of the term and try to keep focussed on what’s important: the children we teach.

Read more ideas from Jon next issue

Let us know if you’d like to review them – email us at educate@neu.org.uk

Across the Spectrum

THIS inspiring and thought-provoking book is aimed at teachers, teaching assistants, special educational needs and disabilities co-ordinators, parents and anyone working with children and young adults who present with autism.

The authors offer research, tips and takeaways, which are interwoven with a range of real-life case studies. These demonstrate what a diverse and personal experience life is for a person on the autistic spectrum. Practical solutions are offered and explored for a range of topics including communication, socialisation and behaviour.

This book will be invaluable for anyone wanting to develop their knowledge and skills to help educate and support young people with autism. Sian Collinson

Across the Spectrum by Francine Brower and Keith MacKenzie Cox. Bloomsbury. £24.99.

Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery

EIGHT Bristol history teachers worked, in collaboration with Bristol’s M Shed museum, to improve available teaching materials about Bristol’s links to slavery.

The group consulted on the textbook with academics and Black teachers in Bristol and London, along with a Bristol-based network of African and African-Caribbean community organisations.

The A4 textbook is aimed at year 8 students. It covers the period 1440 up to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, as well as the legacies of the traffic in enslaved Africans in Bristol.

The book is intended to supplement the existing curriculum so that pupils have a better chance of fully understanding this part of Bristol’s story.

Imogen Arden Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery: Origins, impact and legacy by Richard Kennett et al. Mshed. £11.95. n Schools interested in purchasing the textbook should email museumbookings@bristol.gov.uk n See A class act, page 35

A School Without Sanctions

THE authors share their journey of changing a challenging boys’ SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) school into a sanctionfree environment.

Recognising that punishments did not work for every pupil, the school implemented a new system taking the focus away from punishment and towards reward. This took months of planning and processing, with astounding results.

Looking at the reasons why pupils act the way they do, the writers offer strategies for dealing with behaviour. They include psychological studies and scientific facts about how the brain works and its relation to pupils, with key learning points as well as a reflection table. It will make you rethink education.

Cindy Shanks A School Without Sanctions: A New Approach to Behaviour Management, by Steven Baker and Mick Simpson. Bloomsbury. £19.99.

Feedback and Progress

PACKED with the latest ideas from the most influential voices in education, Feedback and Progress are two of the Best of the Best series compiled by experienced teachers and curriculum coordinators Isabella Wallace and Leah Kirkman.

Concise and insightful, these pocket-sized books are full of engaging ideas and practical wisdom for teachers, focusing respectively on pupil progress and providing feedback. The authors keep the needs of the busy teacher in mind so you can simply dip into the books for ideas and practical, realistic strategies. This makes it a winner for time-pressed teachers.

These useful, handy-sized books are highly recommended for all educationalists.

Aliss Langridge Feedback and Progress by Isabella Wallace and Leah Kirkman. £9.99 each.

Reading Recharged

HOW do you ignite a passion for reading and breathe life into your guided and whole-class reading lessons?

Providing a range of innovative lesson ideas and activities, teacher, literacy resource creator and author Alex Barton reveals how to develop the seven key reading skills: retrieval, inference, summarising, understanding vocabulary, prediction, commentating and authorial intent.

There are photocopiable, downloadable and editable resources to link to each particular text being studied. These can also be used to enhance reading skills in other subjects. An excellent resource for early career teachers and experienced educators.

Cindy Shanks Reading Recharged by Alex Barton. Bloomsbury Education. £24.99.