‘As a young teacher, I worked for a Head whose educational philosophy was ‘keep them reading until they are fourteen, and they will be OK’, said Head of Portsmouth High School, Mrs Sarah Parker.
‘Reading gives us a mental workout, requiring intellectual stamina, but also allows us to escape into other worlds, develops our skills of empathy and can even boost our sense of well-being.’
Across the senior school, notice boards and doors were emblazoned with staff choices of books, including ‘the book everyone should read’ and ‘three books you would save from a burning building’. Along with lunchtime bookmark activities and an International Women’s Day-inspired book club the school encouraged students to talk about the value of literature and non-fiction – and the lessons we all learn from reading.
With Southsea library just around the corner, Pre-School went out of school on their first adventure to enjoy some stories with Librarian Mel and explore lots of new books.
As well as a magnificent display of costumes at the Prep School, Year 4 were visited by Little Red Riding Hood and Mr B B Wolf. Little Red and B B tried to persuade the class their opinion about wolves. Are they good or are they evil? The girls decided to have a debate and argued each point of view very articulately. Points put across included ‘if wolves are so good, why are they always the baddies in stories?’ And ‘Wolves are carnivores so have to eat and we should pay attention to the truth rather than fairy tales’. In the end, the vote went in favour of wolves actually not being too bad after all.
Year 3 joined Michael Rosen, Sandra Agard, Emily Grazebrook and Allen Fatimaharan online for origin tales about mountains, forests and skies. The workshop focused on ‘Why Stories’, exploring the ways in which ancient cultures used storytelling to explain the mystery, chaos and beauty of the world around them. There were creative prompts, draw-alongs and storytelling, to inspire Year 3 to write nature tales of their own and create small nature books.
‘One of my former A Level students in Cambridge wrote me a thank you card I often cite to my classes,’ said Mrs Cullen-Taylor, Head of English, ‘Thank you for a great year about literature and life. For after all, aren’t they one and the same?’ This developing understanding about life through books is what I see with English students every year, including more reluctant readers – and that is definitely worth celebrating.
