Ideas Bank for Primary Schools

Enjoying Reading

The Primary Ideas Bank offers practical, innovative ideas for working with libraries to inspire and motivate children to read for pleasure and purpose.

Schools can actively encourage children and their families to become library users  and  every public library can reflect and celebrate the work of its local schools. This range of ideas shows how partnerships between primary schools and school libraries, schools library services and public libraries can work in practice.

Ideas Bank 

Annual events and festivals

For example, World Book Day, Prize Award Ceremonies, National Poetry Day, Children’s Book Week,  Family Learning Week and National Storytelling Week, provide ideal opportunities for linking to the school curriculum. Check www.booktrust.org.uk  and www.literacytrust.org.uk to find out about national events that can be used as a focus for these activities. 

Book Awards - Book prizes can be a great way to get teachers and children reading and talking about books. You can find details of most national awards at www.booktrust.org.uk/ or www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/awards.html.  Select a case study below to look at examples of local book awards

Enjoying Reading Case Study Links:

Carnegie Greenaway Shadowing

The annual Carnegie/Greenaway Shadowing Scheme can be used to develop joint working between schools and libraries. Information and support material can be found at www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/

Extended Schools

School Library Services can offer support for reading groups for children, or family reading support in schools as part of Extended Schools – with public libraries linked in to themes and activities to provide a ‘seamless’ service. Schools

Family Reading

Family reading gets the whole family developing the lifelong reading habit. Schools can help to link families who are non-library users to the range of services that libraries can offer.  By communicating well and working together, schools, schools library services and public libraries can offer families the following:

  • Special induction trips for families who have never been to the local library
  • A range of events, like Got Kids, Get Reading! Sessions, Rhyme Time sessions or the Summer Reading Challenge
  • Special box loans of family reading titles from the School Library Service or public library, available at school
  • Some libraries can offer visits from mobile libraries at school, at a time that suits families

Family Learning

Family Learning Week in October can provide a good focus for family events in libraries, promoted through schools to encourage parents to engage with their children’s learning. See www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk 

National Year of Reading

Visit www.yearofreading.org.uk  for the latest information on the year’s events.  Use the 12 monthly themes to provide a focus for NYR activities, for example, September: you are what you read...use this to get Year 7s to describe themselves via the books they read & link in with library displays about celebrities’ reading choices.

Book Programmes

Several book programmes support the aims of Enjoying Reading. They can provide great opportunities for activities about reading and foster links between libraries and schools. They include:

  • Booktime gives a free book pack to reception class children when they first start school
  • Booked Up provides a free book to each Year 7 pupil in England when they start secondary school
  • Book Ahead promotes links between libraries and early years settings through lending books and sharing expertise
  • Boys Into Books supports reading by boys in primary schools by providing high quality, relevant books that will be attractive to boys.

Parents’ Evenings

Public library staff can attend schools’ parent evenings to showcase services and offer advice on reading.

Reading Buddies

Buddy schemes help raise literacy levels, increase self-esteem and improve attitudes to reading as well as encouraging youngsters to read more adventurously. Libraries can help with training students to become reading buddies.  Students can also volunteer to visit libraries, assisting staff with family reading groups, nursery class visits, holiday activity groups, or the Summer Reading Challenge.

Enjoying Reading Case Study Links:

Reading Champions

The Reading Champions Scheme celebrates male reading role models who encourage boys and men to read. Schools can work with libraries to nominate champions, or to develop a local scheme offering rewards like vouchers, match tickets or cinema/leisure club passes for participating fathers. Try inviting reading heroes from local sporting teams – or identified through the national Reading the Game scheme to special sessions to discuss books and reading, meet children and sign autographs.

Reading Connects

Reading Connects is a DCSF funded National Reading Campaign initiative that helps schools offer every child the experience of reading for pleasure. It provides schools with a support network which helps them to entice families, children, and everyone associated with the school into a community where everyone can access books and enjoy reading.

Reading Groups

Reading groups provide a forum for children to enjoy, share and develop their reading.  Members can find out much more about the books they read, share opinions about books, enjoy fun reading related activities, and can even have the opportunity to meet authors or chat with them online.  All of which both enhances their reading skills and drives enthusiasm for further, wider reading.

Orange Chatterbooks Reading Groups

Chatterbooks reading groups meet in libraries or schools, depending on local circumstances. Started in 1999, they are sponsored by the telecommunications company Orange, which provides special packs and funds a network to support groups. Library staff run activities and special events for the groups and children participate enthusiastically, and a lively newsletter spreads ideas and good practice.

Enjoying Reading Case Study Links:

Story-Sacks

Story-sacks are bags containing a children’s picture book with supporting material to stimulate shared reading.  Libraries can advise on stock and training. Students can design story sacks and make items like finger puppets themselves (built into the curriculum), or they can be made by volunteers or a partner organisation.

Summer Reading Challenge™

The Summer Reading Challenge is a great way to keep children reading during the summer holidays – through their local library.  Schools can encourage children to join, and celebrate their achievement in the autumn term.

Training for Teachers: INSET

School Library Services and public librarians are experts in children’s and young people’s literature and can help teachers keep up to date with the latest popular and enriching reads.  Invite them to joint twilight sessions or INSET days to share their knowledge and generate book talk.

World Book Day

World Book Day is a great focus for libraries and schools to work together and do something different to celebrate books and reading.  Check out the books and ideas featured on the World Book Day website.

Young Cultural Creators

This visual literacy project for young people explores original works of art, artefacts, documents, and places of interest, linked to the work of children’s writers and illustrators. It inspires young people’s creativity in reading, writing and illustration and involves libraries, museums, archives, galleries, publishers and authors, working with children, their schools and their families.  See www.youngculturalcreators.com

Enjoying Reading Case Study Links: 

If you have an example of a successful school & library partnership, please let us know through our feedback page.

If you would like to send us your case study of a school & library partnership project, please do so through our submit content page.

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