Reading for Pleasure News – July

OU/UKLA RfP Summer Conference a success!

Thank you to the nearly 170 Reading Teachers who joined us for our OU/UKLA RfP Conference in Milton Keynes – Blethering Together. It was a joyful day of learning and discussion. The OU RfP Team was pleased to chat with members of the community, sharing practice and recommendations. We hope to see you on March 17th at our next conference in Nottingham – booking information available soon!

Celebrating our OU/UKLA Student RfP Ambassadors

Last month, over 50 Student Teacher RfP Ambassadors, along with their HEI lead tutors, met online to share innovative approaches they developed to promote RfP pedagogy among their peers. Successes included: using Padlets and Instagram as tools for collaboration and enhancing student teachers’ knowledge of children’s texts, arranging book swaps and reading events, developing book clubs with children and much more!

UKLA Award winners 2023

At the UKLA International Conference in Exeter last month, the 2023 UKLA Book Award winners were revealed. Congratulations to this year’s winners and all the teacher judges for their hard work! Finding time to read award winners is a great way to boost your knowledge of new and bold texts. Which would you like to read next?

Spark Book Award Winners 2023

Our partners at the Spark! School Book Awards have counted the children’s votes and announced the winners. Their fabulous awards ceremony recognised many children’s responses to the shortlisted titles and related work in schools. In 2023-24, the awards will reach into an 11+ category and a guest one, chaired by the guru of graphic novels: Richard Ruddick.

Poetry by Heart Winners 2023

RfP is about nurturing agency, whilst also encouraging readers to experience the joy of reading widely. Is poetry part of your readers’ repertoires? Explore the winners of Poetry by Heart 2023, the national speaking competition for schools. The launch of the 2024 competition will be at The Globe on National Poetry Day, 5 October if you want to get your students involved.

South Korean TV visit to document OU RfP

In June, a South Korean film crew who are making a documentary on literacy levels and reading for pleasure, interviewed Teresa Cremin and visited Sayes Court Primary School to film interactions with staff, parents, children and their Patron of Reading, the author Stephen Davies. Sayes Court won the Farshore, OU and UKLA Whole School RfP Award in 2020 on ‘Developing a Reading Community.’

Author in the Spotlight: Kieran Larwood

Kieran Larwood’s series The Five Realms and Carnival of the Lost are sure-fire hits for your fantasy-loving readers. His books have won several awards, including the Blue Peter Best Story and the Prix Sorcières. Don’t miss his newest book, Carnival of the Spider, only released last week.

In July, English leaders look back on their travels with us on the Reading Schools Programme since September - a moment to reflect and share the impact of their school’s journey with staff and pupils. The view is always pleasing, often surprising, and sometimes quite spectacular. There is no finish line, though. Like a wonderful walk in the country, developing a culture of reading means there is always more to discover, develop and enrich.

As the 2022/23 academic year comes to a close, our 100+ TRG Leaders have been sharing snaps of their group celebration events on social media. If you would like to join your local TRG in 2023/24, do register your interest so we can connect you with a friendly local or online group. We are pleased to welcome 25 new TRG Leaders to the community next year, as well!

Female-focused Book Community

First year English ECT Talibah Miah of Little Ilford School in East London shares her journey in developing informal booktalk and sparking reading motivation with Year 9 pupils. Read about how Talibah used the OU RfP pupil surveys to pinpoint starting points, driving purposeful action.

Empowering Pupils!

Primary ECT Sophie Campbell from Netherburn Primary School in South Lanarkshire shares how she developed inviting, sociable reading spaces in her classroom. Find out about how she involved pupils in the decision-making process, inviting agency and ownership.

Children’s Literature: Exploring the Concept of Hope in contexts of displacement

This is a thought-provoking article which explores the concept of hope and its transformative potential when reading picture books in contexts of flux. Five books used by Egyptian and Mexican mediators were analysed to develop an understanding of how critical hope develops within these texts. Guiding questions for educators to use in such contexts are offered.