Teach Secondary 13.5

“It can’t be left to chance” Why should reading for pleasure be a key focus in school transition planning? Transition into secondary school presents many challenges for students – a new environment, new peer group, new timetable and greater independence, but more responsibility too. As they join Y7, reading for pleasure is a vital tool for easing the transition and ensuring that students don’t lose momentum. Many qualitative and quantitative research studies show the impact that reading regularly, and by choice, can have on attainment and cognitive development, as well as its effects on wellbeing and social outcomes. How does reading for pleasure set students up for success across the curriculum? Students who read are more likely to do better at school and make more progress across the curriculum. Reading enhances educational attainment. By feeding into their development of cognitive skills, and helping them understand forms of reasoning, complex concepts and imaginative richness, reading can support students’ problem solving skills and enhance their intellectual capacities. How does reading for pleasure support student wellbeing? Students who read are more likely to be happier, healthier and ABOUT LIZZIE: Lizzie Catford is an experienced publisher and reading for pleasure specialist, working on national-level behaviour change programmes to develop children’s reading habits. Contact: 020 7801 8800 bookbuzz@ booktrust.org.uk What’s the difference? + Bookbuzz provides a curated programme of books and resources to help embed a reading for pleasure culture, right from transition + It supports schools in scaffolding students’ choices, helping them to self-select the books they’ll read, which is proven to increase reading motivation + The programme spans 16 fiction and non-fiction titles, all selected by experts to ensure that there’s something for every interest and reading level 30 SECOND BRIEFING BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, working with millions of young people each year to get them reading. Its Bookbuzz programme helps put reading for pleasure at the heart of your school’s transition strategy. Q&A Lizzie Catford, Director of Children’s Books at BookTrust, discusses the impact that encouraging reading for pleasure at the primary/secondary transition can have on students’ future success experience better mental wellbeing and self-esteem. Children aged 11-14 who read for pleasure have been shown to have healthier lifestyles. They’re less likely to try cigarettes or alcohol and eat more fruit, irrespective of their family background. They have a better foundation for healthy social-emotional development. How does reading for pleasure promote social interaction? Reading offers a unique tool for social interaction. A head of English at a large comprehensive school in the Midlands recently shared that she really values how BookTrust’s Bookbuzz programme – which gives students the chance to choose and keep a book they’ll love – provides great opportunities for getting to know her new Y7 students through low-stakes, informal book talk, in which students open up and share their points of view, likes and dislikes. Why do schools need to embed reading for pleasure as a priority? Put simply, it can’t be left to chance. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) released in May 2023 found that fewer students in England reported enjoying reading than in the previous study, with a quarter saying that they didn’t like reading. With reading for pleasure in decline, taking the time to use Bookbuzz at the start of Y7 to embed positive associations with reading will pay dividends for the future. It will develop core skills by helping to scaffold choices, so that students know how to find a book that’s right for them. Find out more about the benefits of reading and the evidence base via bit.ly/ts135-BT1 For more information on Bookbuzz visit booktrust.org.uk/bookbuzz PA R T N E R C O N T E N T 26 teachwire.net/secondary