Reading

Reasons Why Reading is Important (to children AND adults)

• Children who read often and widely get better at it.  This is pretty much just common sense.  After all, practice makes perfect in almost everything we humans do and reading is no different.
• Reading exercises our brains.  Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain than, say, watching TV is.  Reading strengthens brain connections and actually builds new connections.
• Reading improves concentration.  Children have to sit still and quietly so they can focus on the story when they’re reading.  If they read regularly as they grow up, they develop the ability to do this for longer and longer periods.
• Reading teaches children about the world around them.  Through reading, they learn about people, places and events outside their own experience.  They are exposed to ways of life, ideas and beliefs about the world which may be different from those which surround them.  This learning is important for its own sake however it also builds a store of background knowledge which helps younger children learn to read confidently and well.
• Reading improves a child’s vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language skills and improves the child's ability to write well.  This is because children learn new words as they read but also because they unconsciously absorb information as they read about things like how to structure sentences and how to use words and language effectively.
• Reading develops a child’s imagination.  This is because when we read our brains translate the descriptions we read of people, places and things into pictures.  When we’re engaged in a story, we’re also imagining how the characters are feeling.  We use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.
• Reading helps children develop empathy.  This is commonly through identifying with the character in the story or person within a recount so you’re feeling what they are feeling.
• Children who read do better at school and they don’t just do better at subjects like reading, English and history.  They do better at all subjects and they do better all the way through school.
• Reading is a great form of entertainment! A paperback or Kindle doesn’t take up much space so you can take it anywhere and you’ll never be lonely or bored if you have a book in your bag.  You can read while waiting in a queue, while waiting for a friend who’s running late or during a flight delay at an airport.
• Reading relaxes the body and calms the mind.  This is an important point because these days we seem to have forgotten how to relax and especially how to be silent.
• The constant movement, flashing lights and noise which bombard our senses when we’re watching TV, looking at a computer or playing an electronic game are actually quite stressful for our brains.  When we read, we read in silence and the black print on a white page is much less stressful for our eyes and brains.
• Literacy has a significant relationship to people's life chances.  A person with poor literacy is more likely to live in a non-working household, live in overcrowded housing and is less likely to vote.  Literacy skills and a love of reading can break this vicious cycle of deprivation and disadvantage.

FACTS about children’s reading and literacy

• 14% of children in lower income homes rarely or never read books for pleasure.
• Half of UK prisoners have a reading age of an 11 year old or below.
• Only 1 in 5 parents easily find the opportunity to read to their children.
• Parents are the most important reading role models for children and young people.
• 10 to 16 year olds who read for pleasure do better at school.
• Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education.  (2013 research by Dr Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown from the Institute of Education).
• It is vital that children enjoy reading - motivation is essential for acquiring literacy skills.  Reading for pleasure is more important than either wealth or social class as an indicator of success at school.  Yet only 40% of England's ten year olds have a positive attitude to reading.  The figure for Italy is 64% and 58% for Germany.

Please take a few minutes to look at the following video and see the difference you can make to your child's education by simply taking a few minutes  a day to read with them: 

 http://readingwise.com/blog/the-cost-of-illiteracy

Phonics Programme: we follow the Read, Write Inc Phonics programme.