It’s often the friends that we make at school who will stay with us for the rest of our lives. That’s why this month’s reading list celebrates International Day of Friendship on 30th July. With a little help from our friends, anything is possible, so take some time to celebrate the value of friendship in your classroom with these […]
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As you’re probably already aware, a new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework will come into force in September 2019. You can get an overview of the new Framework in our blog post ‘The new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework: What’s changed?’ We’ve taken a closer look at the Framework, alongside the new School Inspection Handbook that Ofsted inspectors will be using, and have pulled out […]
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Successful comprehension is what allows children to acquire and apply new knowledge, to communicate successfully, and ultimately, to be academically successful. However, good comprehension is more than simply processing single words or sentences; it’s the reader having a coherent understanding of the meaning of the text as a whole. To do this, they need to […]
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Empathy Day on the 11th June is an annual event founded by Empathy Lab , to harness books’ empathy-building power. It aims to encourage us to read stories, build empathy and make the world a better place. We’ve put together a list of brilliant books that will help you and your class see things from someone else’s […]
Read moreJoy Court shines a spotlight on children’s author Cerrie Burnell. 2019 started off with a really exciting move up to Middle Grade by this popular actress and CBeebies presenter, turned author. Cerrie featured in The Guardian’s 2011 list of the 100 most inspirational women, where she received praise for tackling disability head-on. Having been born […]
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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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Transition Days and reading 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 […]
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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 […]
Read more HOT TOPIC Reflecting Realities in the school library Joy Court discusses the results of CLPE’s first study into ethnic representation in UK children’s literature and how libraries can get involved with the movement for change. “An important report was published at the end of July, after many of you would have finished for the summer break, and […]
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SHARED PRACTICE Public and school library partnerships—Joy Court talks to Ailsa Gormley I have always felt that if school librarians wanted to create readers for life, they had to engage their students with public libraries so that the reading habit could be sustained outside of the educational environment. I am also a passionate advocate of the inspiration […]
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