The Importance of Reading

Reading is an essential skill, which allows us to access many areas of everyday life, and a skill that many take for granted. For children, being able to read competently and confidently not only enables them to discover new information during their school lives, but also opens them up to a world of new ideas, stories and opportunities. Being able to read well is important for all children, whatever their background, and every child deserves the chance to become a reader.

Reading for pleasure

We place literature at the centre of our curriculum and promote a love of books with the aim for all children to see reading as something they enjoy. Promoting a love for reading sets children up as readers for life, with all the accompanying benefits that follow. Reading for pleasure helps us to enhance opportunities to learn about a multitude of things that may not be covered by a school curriculum.

Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Likewise, evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who do not, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.

At Northleach we are passionate about books and this love of reading is shared with all pupils. As you walk around the school, you are instantly struck by engaging reading displays and inviting book corners. Our libraries and our annual investment in new and exciting books demonstrates our commitment to reading and developing a culture of reading for pleasure.

We work hard to ensure this joy of reading extends beyond the classroom and offer a range of extra-curricular experiences including paired reading with Reception/Year 1 and Year 6, book clubs, an annual book fair and participation in Cotswold Radio’s Culture Club show. 

Class texts

We value the importance of exposing our children to a wealth of books that intrigue and excite. Therefore, we have carefully selected books that represent different abilities, cultures, beliefs, appropriate age content as well as offering challenge to readers in all year groups in both poetry, fiction and non-fiction alike. By offering a diverse reading curriculum, we ensure that we are supporting all our children in finding titles that they can read and connect with on some level while affirming their own cultural identifies and hopefully developing important, positive insights about others.

The class texts have all been chosen for their high quality and promise to excite a range of readers. The fact that the class teacher is reading it to children means that even the lowest 20% of each class is whisked away and immersed in the stories between the pages.

Parental involvement

We value the contributions that parents and carers make to their child’s reading at home. Parents are the most important educators in a child’s life – even more important than their teachers – and it is never too early to start reading together. Parents and our teaching team working closely together ensure the very best outcomes for our pupils.

Even before they were born, babies learn to recognise their parents' voices. Reading to your baby from birth, even for just a few minutes a day, gives them the comfort of hearing your voice and increases their exposure to language.

10 Benefits of Reading

 Children who read often and widely get better at it.

 After all, practice makes perfect in almost everything humans do, and reading in no different.

Reading exercises our brain.

Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain rather than watching television, for example. Reading strengthens brains connections and builds NEW connections.

Reading improves concentration.

Children have to sit still and quietly so that they can focus on the story when they are reading. If they read often, they will develop the skill to do this for longer.

Reading teaches children about the world around them.

Through reading a variety of books children learn about people, places, and events outside of their own experience.

Reading improves vocabulary and language skills.

Children learn new words as they read. Subconsciously, they absorb information on how to structure sentences and how to use words and other language features effectively in their writing and speaking.

Reading develops a child's imagination.

 As we read our brains translate the descriptions we read of people, places and things into pictures. While we are engaged in a story we are also imagining how a character is feeling. Young children then bring this knowledge into their everyday play.

Reading helps children to develop empathy.

As children develop they begin to imagine how they would feel in that situation.

Reading is a fun.

A book or an e-reader doesn't take up much space and is light to carry, so you take it anywhere so you can never be bored if you have a book in your bag.

Reading is a great way to spend time together.

Reading together on the sofa, bedtimes stories and visiting the library are just some ways of spending time together.

Children who read achieve better in school.

Reading promotes achievement in all subjects, not just English. Children who are good readers tend to achieve better across the curriculum.