Reading for Pleasure – Our Approach at Old Clee

Here at Old Clee, our aim is to foster a love of reading and help children to develop a lifelong habit of reading. Studies show that children who read for pleasure have improved literacy outcomes, wider vocabulary knowledge, enhanced cognitive development and background knowledge, and are more intrinsically motivated. We hope that giving you an insight into our approach and ethos will help you to see how passionate we are at instilling, supporting and nurturing a growing love of reading for pleasure in our children.

Reading Ambassadors

Our Reading Ambassadors are at the centre of everything we do for reading and are always on hand to promote a love of reading across the school. As avid, passionate readers themselves, they encourage others to read for pleasure and engage with books in meaningful ways. Their two greatest and most impacting achievements to date are the introduction of reading huts onto each of the KS1 and KS2 playgrounds (see below for further detail) and the creation of a reading café (again, see below) in the KS2 library. Our Reading Ambassadors meet on a regular basis with the Reading Team and help to shape decisions made to best suit the children at Old Clee. They recommend books to their peers, share their own personal reading experiences, support the running of reading challenges, demonstrate enthusiasm for reading, encourage reluctant readers, create a positive reading culture and generally enhance the school’s reading for pleasure ethos. We are hoping to build on and expand the number of Reading Ambassadors we have next academic year to impact even further across the academy.

Reading Café

Fully designed and implemented by our Reading Ambassadors, our reading café is a space intended to promote a love of reading. It is designed exactly like a café with chequered table cloths, menus, flowers and napkins and is a place where children can read books recommended by others (both teachers and children), discuss books and makes reading feel fun and social as opposed to just academic. Our aim next academic year is to design and implement this in the KS1 library for children to enjoy.

Reading Huts

We are lucky enough to have three reading huts in total, one situated on the KS1 playground and the other two on the KS2 playground. After collating the results of a pupil questionnaire, it was apparent that children longed for calm, quiet spaces to relax and read in a sociable capacity and discuss their love of books – essentially completing ‘book talk’. With this in mind, our Reading Ambassadors were at the heart of the theme of each reading hut: one being nature, one being space themed and one being ocean themed. Their rationale was clear: to appeal to everyone. They furnished the huts with comfortable seating, bookshelves, cushions and beanbags, along with décor that promoted a calm atmosphere. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of parents and carers who donated books and reading materials suitable for different ages and interests. They were then officially opened jointly by the Mayor and the Reading Ambassadors who strive to maintain them and keep the materials fresh and engaging. They even wrote to the Headteacher to ask for specific books based on a questionnaire they completed with children on the types of books and authors children wanted to see in the reading huts. These books were then purchased and children have since been able to engage with the books they love! The Reading Huts enhance the overall reading culture of the school.

      

Reading Workshops

Maintaining strong links with parents is extremely important to us, so this year we have engaged with parents through the Reading for Pleasure workshops. These workshops have been instrumental in supporting us to build a reading community and share our vision of not only what Reading for Pleasure looks like in school, but how this can also be replicated in the home. During each workshop, a ‘Reading Café’ was created, where each area had a specific focus, including: ‘expanding knowledge of authors/texts’, ‘social reading environment’, ‘reading aloud’, ‘book talk’ and giving ‘book recommendations’. Parent/carer feedback was incredibly positive, with a number of families stating that it was clear to see our passion for reading as a school.

      

Library

As a school, we are lucky enough to have two libraries, one in KS1 and one in KS2. Children are given the opportunity to visit the library once a week, where they engage in social reading, change their library book and discuss book recommendations with both their peers and their teacher. Library sessions are something we are keen to enhance next academic year.

In order to maintain the upkeep of our library, we have employed librarians from across the school. At the beginning of the year, the librarians have to complete an application form, keep their fingers crossed that they are shortlisted and are then individually spoken to by the reading team to discover if they have been successful. Librarians then receive a certificate and a ‘Library Monitor’ badge which they wear with pride. It is their responsibility to maintain the order of the library and support in raising funds towards the purchase of new library books. The librarians take their responsibilities very seriously!

Celebrating Reading

Reading is super important to us and we believe it is the gateway to everything. Finding children engrossed in a book is the best feeling so if there is an opportunity for us to celebrate reading, we will absolutely do just that! For example, some of the ways we celebrate all things reading are:

• Taking part in World Book Day.
• Have a calendar of reading events to ensure that each month, a different strand/element of reading is focused on.
• Giving children regular opportunities to recommend books.
• Taking part in the Virtual Author Events.
• Organise an author to visit the children at least once a year.

         

Teachers as Readers

We firmly believe that if our staff are avid readers and have a love of reading, this will filter through to the children and shape their enthusiasm. In order to achieve this, we ensure that many of our staff meetings feature a Reading for Pleasure focus. As a result of this, staff have commented that they have enjoyed being introduced to new authors and particularly enjoyed the alphabet of authors tasks they completed. Teachers are more informed and aware of alterative authors/books they can read to the children during class book time and can find books that are similar to inspire the children. Authors are also now highlighted more prominently in writing sessions and staff are extremely interested and enthused in what children are reading in order to share their opinions more. Staff enjoy recommending books to children and the children enjoy this more! Hearing a child say, “I’m going to read this because Mrs Johnson loves it,” is extremely rewarding.

    

Priorities for 2025/26

• Establish effective library slots which are consistent across the academy.
• Ensure that the Reading Ambassador role is well established and they support in driving Reading for Pleasure across the academy.
• Implement a Reading Café in KS1.
• Ensure that the library is fresh, well stocked and new books are added regularly.
• Reading for Pleasure features in a weekly assembly by KH (Assistant Headteacher).
• A calendar of Reading Events is mapped out and followed by all staff.
• Teachers support and drive a love of reading across the school.