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More from local schools about how they celebrate the joy of reading

Igniting A Love Of Reading

By Emma Adriano, Deputy Head and Head of Pre-Prep at St George’s School Windsor Castle

Reading is often something adults take for granted, as the learning process involved can quickly be forgotten. Many children find the task di cult, since the skill takes time, dedication and lots of practice. A quality amount of time spent reading is the fastest way for children to learn, yet so many young people find it uninspiring and a challenge to dedicate themselves to.

So how can we help our children on their reading journey? At school we looked into ways in which we could cultivate a genuine joy of reading amongst our students from

Kindergarten to Year 8. We made the decision to move the main school library from its previous, less accessible location upstairs, to the very heart of the school. The library computers were moved to another building so that the new library became a place free from the constant presence of electronic information. The room is light and airy even on grey days, benefiting from five large windows. Brightly coloured bean bags and a communal table make it a comfortable and inviting place to visit, play board games, socialise with other year groups or, most often, pick up a good book and read. Tempting displays are changed on a regular basis by volunteer library assistants from Year 7. And the result? St George’s children love books! stgwindsor.org

Festival Of Ideas

Nikki Olhausen, from The Beacon School, on developing literacy and a whole host of other skills

We have developed a Beacon ‘Festival of Words’ week, which starts on World Book Day. The children have really been enjoying the Festival this year. We decided not to go with the usual dressing up for a change. We decided a programme of events instead so that all year groups had at least one activity on World Book Day itself and then at least one other activity over the week. On the day itself, we organised a school-wide ‘Drop Everything and Read’ and boys created their own concertina books based on Joseph Coelho’s ‘Step inside your story’ initiative. The Festival has also involved activities ranging from a dance workshop for our youngest boys to creating video shorts with our oldest.

Inspiring a love of words is a real mission. We are so keen for the boys to embrace literacy in all its forms, which is why we wanted to create a series of events to promote reading. We have had dance workshops for our youngest boys, Battle of the Books in Year 3, as well as a host of other activities designed to promote literacy. We asked for book donations which were collected by Ihezie Foundation, who send books to UK and African schools. Those in bad condition are sent for recycling. This was a really constructive way to get our school community thinking about books which they may not need or want any more that could be used positively by others.

We work on oracy and public speaking alongside our other curriculum focuses. For example, Year 7 will be taking part in a Victorian Waxworks event, where they take on the role of a famous Victorian and argue for their rights to stay in the museum rather than be melted down to make room for a more modern contender!

A fun way to practice rhetorical and persuasive writing and speaking skills. beaconschool.co.uk

In Character

World Book Day 2023, Upton House style

World Book Day was first celebrated in the UK and Ireland over 25 years ago and the day has become a firm fixture in school calendars with the annual event creating excitement. How do schools keep this favourite event creative, fresh and impromptu whilst still fostering that great love of reading and books? At Upton House School they certainly did just that.

Broadcasting, now firmly embedded in the curriculum at Upton, was actively involved in World Book Day. They decided in advance to produce engaging footage that would be great fun for the children and make UHS stand out from typical predictable still pictures of children in costumes. They still did a few of those, of course, for social media and parents, but they wanted to inspire children to be creative with books and text using broadcasting. Their focus was demonstrating the breadth of approach to enjoying World Book Day, and celebrating books using video footage. They also had great fun with ‘Unnatural Pairings’. In Form 5 and 6, for example,

Mary Poppins met Horrible Henry; Mary Queens of Scots met the Cat in the Hat. Further down the school The Hungry Caterpillar met Mr Bump, and Shakespeare characters met those from the present day. The improvised chats between the characters from di erent genres and times was fascinating, invigorating, and fun. They then moved to assembling unselected characters to complete a story and perform a skit. None of these costumes were pre-agreed. It was quirky, hilarious and displayed a love of the classics throughout the whole school with shorts such as The Wizard Oz and Cruella. How could they then not take the opportunity to create ‘The Evolution of Cat in the Hat’ – a play on the Evolution of Humans. Assembling representative Cat in the Hats across the year groups, which included Form 1, 3, 5, 6 and a member of sta , the results were poignant and powerful. You can follow Upton House’s broadcasting adventures and more on their social channels: facebook.com/UptonHouseSch twitter.com/UptonHouseSch instagram.com/UptonHouseSch/