Intent

At Hempstalls Primary School, we wholeheartedly embrace the connection between academic achievement and the sheer joy of reading. Our intent is to use our school's vibrant reading community to cultivate a genuine love of books within our pupils. By developing a positive attitude to reading, endless opportunities will be unlocked for our pupils and future doorways will be opened. Our staff are committed to championing the cause of reading, infusing it throughout the curriculum and promoting book talk whenever the opportunity arises. Our ultimate aim is to not persuade children to read, but for children to choose to read independently.

Implementation

Children and adults share high quality texts from Reception up to Year 6. This engagement with books from the two-year-old room is paramount to ensure children begin to have a love for stories which in turn will see them wanting to read stories for themselves as they grow older. During a child’s journey throughout Hempstalls, their love of reading is fostered in multiple ways:

Impact

The impact of these planned events and promotions in school will be that the children of Hempstalls read for pleasure whether this is in or out of school. In addition to this, the reading levels and fluency of all of our pupils will be improved and the attitudes towards reading will be positive. Children will have a greater understanding of what they have read or are reading. They will be confident to discuss texts read and even make recommendations to friends about authors and books to try as well as having in-depth conversations with staff about their choice of books in passing where relevant.

The impact for our children of reading for pleasure also has the ability to do more than increase school outcomes; it will give the chance to improve a person’s social mobility, emotional intelligence, and mental wellbeing.

Reading widely opens up the world; books offer an opportunity to learn about and empathise with times, locations and cultures which can be very different from their own. Books offer the opportunity to hear voices and stories that represent their own lives thereby capturing, validating, and enriching their own life experience.