Latest News

Mystery readers who turn up unexpectedly to read with children are helping to improve a love of the vital skill.

Little Parndon Primary Academy continues its push on reading in an effort to develop a love of reading among its children.

Among the projects to encourage reading is the Mystery Readers – parents and teachers who arrive in classrooms unannounced to read with pupils.

The school is also –

• taking part in OTTER, Our Time To Enjoy Reading, where everyone stops what they are doing to read a story together. Children suggest the books they would like to read, giving their justification for their choices. They then vote as a class
• developing its book corners to make them more inviting
• appointing reading monitors, where older children read with younger peers. Pupils had to apply for the role, providing a CV and taking part in an interview
• providing a book swap trolley to encourage children to donate their old books and exchange them for something they have not read before
• turning an old shed in the playground into a reading hub, where pupils can sit on comfortable beanbags to enjoy a book
• encouraging Key Stage 1 pupils to take it in turns to go home with a reading bag which has a book, a cuddly character from the story and a sachet of hot chocolate in
• welcoming Year 1 into school in their pyjamas to hear bedtime stories by their teachers and have hot chocolate and cookies while their parents attend a phonics workshop
• publishing bedtime stories read by different adults in the school for families to enjoy in the evening.

Headteacher Mark Evans said: “We have invited our parents into school to take part in a workshop, so they know the best ways to support their child’s reading at home.

“The work we are doing is having a significant impact, as the results of our recent mock tests have shown, in both attainment and their enjoyment of reading. They are the things we want to achieve.”