Here at Pudsey Primrose Hill we believe reading is vital for wellbeing- offering entertainment, escape and a much needed screen break. Research has shown that reading for pleasure boosts attainment in all subjects and it improves life chances.

This year’s World Book Day at our  school focussed on reading for pleasure. In our World Book Day assembly pupils learnt about authors' favourite books and favourite places to read.  Children contributed their own  ideas and they remembered the first book they really enjoyed reading.  Staff and pupils  began the morning in the main hall.  We invited parents and pupils into school to ‘share a story’ before the school day had even begun!

Throughout the day some pupils took part in an online National Literacy Trust  book quiz  and they visited genre workshops.  They learnt more  about the features of  adventure stories , historical fiction, myths, fairy tales,  science fiction stories, mystery stories and fantasy books.  They listened to examples of different types of genres and then they discussed their preferences.  We aimed to open our pupils' eyes to new authors and genres of books that perhaps they could try to read. 

As well as the genre workshops,  pupils took part in paired reading buddy sessions across the whole school.  This was particularly popular as our children enjoy working alongside others in different year groups. Our oldest pupils selected picture books to share with our youngest pupils!  In addition to this, teachers swapped classes for our daily Drop Everything and Read sessions and staff read picture books during lunchtime in varied nominated places in the school grounds. Picture books such as : The Fox,  How To Live Forever and The Paperbag Prince were just some of the books brought to life in our school grounds.  

We also launched our new ‘Reading Champions’ jobs across KS2 .  We are hunting for pupils who are passionate and knowledgeable about children’s fiction who can share some of their enthusiasm with other pupils.  We already have 40 applications for the  Reading Champions role and the closing date is not until Friday 10th March.  It will be a tricky job deciding who to appoint!