HOT TOPIC Healthy individuals and healthy school communities Joy Court looks at the role that reading can play in children’s mental health. How well a school supports pupils’ personal development is a key feature of the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework that was published in May. There is actually much in this framework that could be used to justify (should […]
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SHARED PRACTICE Don’t let lack of funds stop you! One librarian who knows all about building a society of readers is Nicki Cleveland, celebrated on the Honour List for the 2018 SLA School Librarian of the Year. Joy Court talks to Nicki below. Her citation tells us: ‘Despite having only 3.5 dedicated hours in the […]
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In my previous blog I outlined our motivations for becoming a Reading School. We were clear why we wanted to do it and the impact we really hoped we would have. We just needed to think of a hook; a way to get the students to buy in to the new culture. We decided the […]
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Reading to children from an early age is the best way of encouraging them to love books and reading. By reading stories aloud, we take them into a world that goes well beyond our typical everyday spoken language, and form a link for them between reading, comfort and love. We need to do everything we can […]
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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Scotland? Robert the Bruce, The Tattoo, or perhaps the legendary Loch Ness monster? Whatever splendid Scotland means to you, we’ve brought together a collection that’s more exciting than a Celtic ceilidh to celebrate Book Week Scotland ,taking place from 19th-25th November. So join us as we […]
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The days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in, and it’s the time of year when things go bump in the night. Don’t be afraid, this month’s reading list is mostly full of monsters that will tickle your funny bone, but we’ve thrown in a few spine-tingling tales, for those who are feeling brave […]
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Oxford Levelled books use a well-established and expertly researched system to engage children from the start while ensuring continuous skills progression at every stage of their reading journey. OUP Head of publishing Andrea Quincey shares how we can ensure progress through levelling. Why use levelled books? Accessing the right level of books can support children’s […]
Read moreSummer is the perfect time to catch up on the reading you haven’t found time for during the beginning of the year. Sometimes it can be hard to decide from all the fantastic books that are out there and to give you some inspiration we have put together a list of what the English team […]
Read more“I’ve been working on raising boys’ achievement since 1993… you’d have thought I’d have got it sorted by now” is regularly the opening line to one of my INSET days or keynote speeches. It usually provokes mild amusement. “But sadly I’m afraid there aren’t that many people working on it.” And nobody laughs. Because it’s […]
Read moreJumping into the unknown We are all probably familiar with the fear of the blank page when writing: we know that many children experience it; we may even feel it ourselves sometimes. It’s possible that something similar happens when insecure, struggling, or simply young readers look at a previously-unseen text: a daunting fear of the […]
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