At Asquith, reading is at the heart of everything we do. It allows children to be transported to other worlds and immersed in the lives of fictional characters.
It is a commonly said that a child’s future academic success is directly linked to their reading proficiency.
Reading for Pleasure in School
At the heart of Reading for Pleasure is the idea of children independently choosing to read in their own time, choosing who they read with, and also selecting reading matter for themselves. This is important for a number of reasons including, building a life-long love of reading, increasing well-being, developing empathy and understanding, as well as leading to higher attainment. Evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship between reading frequency, reading enjoyment and attainment (Clark 2011; Clark and Douglas 2011)
During 2022-23 Asquith Primary School undertook the Open University Reading Schools programme with Professor Teresa Cremin. We explored a number of approaches to increase the interest that our children had in reading, expanded staff knowledge of contemporary literature and monitored the impact across all areas of school. We found that incorporating specific Reading for Pleasure strategies through school encouraged our children (and staff) to be curious about reading and actively choose to spend time reading.
Some of the strategies we employ include the following:
During 2023-24 Asquith Primary School is embedding the Reading for Pleasure philosophy throughout school. We will also be joining the Open University for their Reading for Pleasure conference in March, where we will be taking part in a workshop about Reading Schools.
Asquith Reading Spine
Foundation 1 |
We're going on a bear hunt Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? Jasper's beanstalk Dear Zoo The Train Ride Shark in the Park |
Foundation 2 |
Supertato Astro Girl The Odd Egg Oi Frog Peace At Last Hairy McClary |
Year 1 |
The Jolly Postman Tiger Walk Lost and Found Leaf Look Up The Last Wolf |
Year 2 |
Leon and the Place between The Owl Who Was Afraid of Dark The Whale Who Wanted More The Day the Crayons Quit Bear and Rabbit - A Bad King is a Sad Thing Lubna and Pebble |
Year 3/4 Cycle A |
The Hodgeheg Podgekin One Ear Alice in Wonderland The Last Bear Diary of a Killer Cat The House with Chicken Legs |
Year 3/4 Cycle B |
Stig of the Dump My Dad’s a Birdman The Iron Man The Firework-Maker’s Daughter Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Featherlight |
Year 5/ 6 Cycle A |
Letters from the Lighthouse Cirque du Freak This morning I met a whale Beyond the Frozen Horizon Clockwork and Skellig The Girl of Ink and Stars |
Year 5/6 Cycle B |
Beowulf and the Monster The Hobbit The Girl Who Stole an Elephant Wolf Boy Welcome to Nowhere Pig Heart Boy |