National Year of Reading
Robin’s Blog
A teacher’s diary of developing literacy in a primary school
Robin Burrows is a Year 5 teacher in a primary school and has been Literacy Lead since September 2024.
Hello, and welcome to the first edition of my blog. I’ll be giving you regular updates about my work developing the many different areas the subject label of ‘Literacy’ encompasses! In fact, I liken the role to spinning plates, with reading, writing, handwriting, spelling, grammar, punctuation and oracy all within its remit.
However, this first edition is slightly different in that it acts as more of a recap. ‘Previously, in Literacy Land’, if you like. It’s been partly inspired by the DfE’s nationwide aim to make 2026 the ‘National Year of Reading’, with its goals to increase levels of reading for pleasure nationwide, improving literacy and wellbeing in children, and making clear the relevance of reading in an increasingly digital world.
It’s an interesting project and its aims are laudable, but it leaves an overriding thought: surely every year is the Year of Reading? So, I thought that this blog could outline my 2025 ‘Year of Reading’, i.e. the many initiatives and actions that happened throughout last year.
One of my first actions after accepting the role was to study the findings of the
National Literacy Trust’s Annual Literacy Survey. It was truly eye-opening. Based on
its research, only 1 in 3 children aged between 8 and 18 enjoy reading in their spare
time – the lowest level recorded since 2005. The benefits of reading for pleasure are
numerous and well-publicised (here, here and here). This, alongside the results of interviews with teachers and children, and from assessment data, made my mind up. Out of all the plates,
reading was in danger of falling first.
I decided that the first thing to focus on was improving the quality and consistency of
guided reading lessons in the classroom. Previously, the discrete teaching of reading
had been patchy and inconsistent, both in terms of content and frequency. Working
with colleagues, we brought in a formal system of guided reading across Years 2-6,
with materials tailored for each year group. These lessons focused on the pre-
teaching of unfamiliar vocabulary, comprehension and inference skills, and adapted
whole-class teaching.
As this plan progressed, I started to think about how to further develop a culture of
reading in the school and champion reading for pleasure. I established a group of
children across Years 2 and 6 who would champion reading across the year. Over
the year, we achieved the following:
Curated and decorated book boxes of various genres in each KS2 classroom
Created a summer ‘reading nook’ on the field under the shade of our big tree
Our ‘Reading Ambassadors’ also helped to organise the school’s World Book Day programme. Previously, we had celebrated the day by taking an hour or so out of timetable,
but I wanted an entire day set aside to explore the many aspects of reading for
pleasure. Children spent the morning choosing from a host of different reading
experiences; teachers read their favourite fiction and non-fiction texts, and others
played audiobooks. There was also a whole-school ‘design your perfect book cover’
competition, children could design their ideal reading nooks for home, and each
class developed their own reading charters.
I also felt that we needed to change children’s relationship with reading at home by
clarifying our expectations. Although every child was expected read several times a
week as part of homework, we had not actually given parents any guidance about
what we, as a school, considered reading to be. We made it clear that we don’t have
any rules about what children should read at home. Books? Magazines? Comic
books? Cookbooks? All fine! We also extolled the virtues of audiobooks and that, for
some reluctant readers, reading apps (such as Microsoft’s Reading Coach) might be
preferable.
Going into the new year, as well as consolidating many of the initiatives mentioned
above, I have introduced a handful more. This year’s Reading Ambassadors will be
producing a termly newsletter (called Bookworms), full of reviews, interviews and
quizzes. We have also set up a Reading Café at breaktimes. In the classroom, I
have ringfenced half a term of literacy lessons across the whole school specifically
for the purpose of reading, writing and appreciating poetry.
The tagline for the National Year of Reading is ‘Go All In’. I love the concept, but, as
I’m sure many of my colleagues across the country would agree, we must ‘go all in’
every year, every term, every day. I hope that, as part of this initiative, schools are
given what is needed to make this happen.
Throughout the year, I’ll be monitoring the progress of these various initiatives by talking to and surveying staff, parents and children, to see if they are having the desired effect. I’ll keep you posted!
In future editions, I’ll be writing about the school’s efforts in improving levels of oracy, the never-ending work on improving writing, spelling and handwriting, and perhaps the occasional tidbit on what I think will be increasingly important with the rapid development of AI – media literacy.
