Children’s books are central to my work at Edge Grove but are also my passion and hobby, so over the Easter break, it was my pleasure to be a delegate at the annual conference of The Federation of Children’s Book Groups held at Woldingham School in Surrey. Federation members attended from across the country and it was wonderful to spend three days with like-minded lovers of children’s literature. We listened to addresses from four children’s laureates: Anne Fine (2001-03), Michael Morpurgo (2003-05), Lauren Child (2017-19) and the current laureate, Cressida Cowell (2019-22) and we enjoyed a full programme of presentations from popular authors and poets.
The highlight for me was meeting Tom Palmer, winner of the Children’s Book Award 2020 for his book D-Day Dog, and having an opportunity to read his new historic fiction novel, RESIST which is not yet in the shops. The novel based on in-depth research, publishes in August and tells the story of Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn as a child when she worked for the Dutch Resistance in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation in the Second World War.
I came away with numerous goodies for children at Edge Grove and hopefully, new books, sample chapters, bookmarks and pictures have made their way into libraries, classrooms and book corners across the school. Recently SF Said, author of the award winning novel Varjak Paw (that Year 4 is currently reading) tweeted this:
At Edge Grove we now have the results of Future School applications and for Year 6 and 8, I am reminded once again of the importance of reading for pleasure and the impact it has on academic success. In my role as Head of English it is my job to use the data that we gather to ensure that we then promote the strategies that we know lead to success. All teachers from across the school can affirm that those children who read for pleasure are those who demonstrate the greatest confidence in the classroom where a broad vocabulary and reading fluency is key to understanding the curriculum. Each term children in Years 4-8 take a lexile test which is a measure of reading comprehension comprising of short on-screen paragraphs of text followed by multiple choice questions which check understanding. Each term we see children achieve grades which are a direct reflection of their enthusiasm for reading for pleasure. Children who read regularly make steady progress; children who suddenly develop a love for reading can make over 200+ points progress; and children who have read little from one term to the next see their lexile score stagnate or go backwards.
If we look at successful 11+ applications with some of the most demanding entrance requirements locally we can see the role that reading for pleasure has on success:
We can see that the broad vocabulary and fluency that comes from reading for pleasure are essential. We can encourage reading at Edge Grove, make some time available for children to read and recommend and provide books that will engage and inspire. However, research tells us that it is the attitude towards reading that is fostered in the home that has the biggest impact on reading for pleasure. I will share more about this next week.
Jane Broadis Head of English