By Leia Sands – School Librarian
School libraries have been found to impact pupils’ general academic attainment, reading and writing skills, wider learning skills, and more.
I am passionate about the need for every school to have a library, as I imagine every headteacher is, but sadly, I know of too many schools whose budgets are being squeezed and hard decisions are being made.
Many libraries are being pushed to the bottom of the ‘essentials’ list, getting smaller or worse, going completely.
Whether your school has a large, small or even no library at all, integrating reading for pleasure is crucial – from the moment children walk through the door to the moment they leave for secondary school, each and every year.
It’s not something that can be done overnight, it’s certainly not something that can be ticked off a list, but by asking yourself six questions, it is something that can be embedded throughout the whole school.
Q1. What do you know about your children?
As the children walk through your classroom door each autumn term, take the time to find out what their reading journey has been like so far. Who are their favourite authors and/or illustrators? What are their favourite books? Do they have any specific hobbies, likes or dislikes? Are they reading at home, with and without adults?
By getting to know your children as readers, you can tailor any reading corners you may have to the children’s interests, select enticing books for your year group and recommend exciting books to read. By taking the time to talk to your children, maybe by completing a simple reading survey, you can get the information you need.
Q2. Do your children have access to books?
To promote reading for pleasure, you need to have books that your children want to read, books that are diverse, exciting and inviting in a range of fiction, non-fiction, picture books, graphic novels, poetry, magazines and more.
Easier said than done, I hear you say. Approach your PTA and see if they can support you with funds to purchase books, contact your School Library Service if you have one, apply for grants and approach your local bookshop to set up a wish list where parents can buy a book that the children would enjoy.
Display your books too to create interest and conversation. During the World Cup we created a display of football books, in January we share books that the children may have watched film adaptations of over the holidays, share your best poetry books to celebrate National Poetry day in October – the possibilities are endless.
And remember, books don’t just need to be in a library or book corner, they can be anywhere – on a table in the corridor, by reception, near the canteen or hall, in the playground, in a reading shed. Give your children the opportunity to pick up a book wherever they may be.
Q3. Are your adults knowledgeable?
Do teachers, teaching assistants, helpers and members of SLT show themselves as readers? Have you thought about starting staff meetings with book recommendations? We have a staff WhatsApp group, Book Buzz, where we share children’s literature that we are reading. I encourage all adults to follow authors on social media, attend author visits and participate in initiatives like the Reading Agency and Open University’s Teaching Reading Challenge, especially over the school holidays when they may have more time to read.
Q4. Are your children excited about reading?
We have dedicated reading assemblies which helps us embed a reading culture across the whole school. One for Reception through to year 3 and another for pupils in year 4 – 6. This allows us to tailor the books to the ages of the children and gives us a platform to create a buzz around reading, sharing different books and highlighting different authors. The texts we use focus on key events of awareness days such as Anti-bullying Week or World Mental Health Day or highlight books that reflect our children’s experiences, such as young carers.
We also encourage our children to take an active role in our reading assemblies. We have ‘Books that made me a reader’ segments where children interview a member of staff to find out their current and childhood favourites. At the end of the academic year, year 6 pupils run the reading assembly, sharing their favourite books from their time at the school. It is lovely to see the younger children being inspired to read some of their favourites.
Q5. Is reading a focus all year round?
Whether it’s fiction, non fiction, magazines, newspapers or poetry, it’s important for your children to see that reading is important all year round. As well as the informal conversations you have as part of daily school life, think about the time of year – Christmas stories, Black History Month and World Book Day as well as writing and reading competitions – external and internal.
In my experience, children are often motivated to read by their peers. Our Pupil Librarians/Reading Ambassadors provide book recommendations and act as reading role models throughout the academic year. Their enthusiasm is often more effective than us teachers telling our pupils to read, particularly as the children get older.
Q6. Is there focus and communication at staff level?
At Steyning, we noticed that pupils were struggling to connect with poetry so this became a whole school focus. We now have a poem of the week and a half termly poet focus in assemblies. We display poems on the back of toilet doors, office doors, classroom doors and walls, basically wherever a child could be. We hold a termly poetry slam that has rapidly grown in popularity as the children become inspired by their peers. Embedding all of these things into our school routine has worked wonders.
Creating a love of reading is a journey. It’s developing a reading community which involves the pupils as well as teachers, parents, family members and any others that may come into the school.
I truly believe that every school should have a staffed library, that’s why I’m part of the Great School Libraries campaign, campaigning for schools to have just that. Although we hope to be successful (please join us) it’s going to take some time. Developing a love of reading in our children is something that falls at all of our doors, whether we have a large, small or no library at all, but if we can embed and create a reading for pleasure culture, our children will benefit for years to come.
By Leia Sands – Librarian at Steyning C of E Primary School in Steyning and Swiss Gardens Primary in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
Steyning Primary won the Peter Usborne School Library of the Year Award at the School Library Association (SLA) Awards. For further information visit: www.sla.org.uk
