Prep Michaelmas Reading Week
This week we welcomed back the children after the half-term break, and it certainly feels like Autumn has well and truly set in. Gloves and hats are on, so it was time to get cosy. This week is our Michaelmas Reading Week, and we are highlighting the joys of reading as a shared experience. Across the week, all children have participated in class reading competitions, reading cafés, book reviews and reading to our Lucky Listeners. Each opportunity brings reading into the spotlight and turns a solo pursuit into a communal event.
The reading cafés for many children will be the highlight. The addition of extra blankets and cushions, swapping books with each other and generally feeling pretty snuggled on a chilly day brings wonderful connotations to the act of reading. Moments like these hopefully make them even more likely to pick up a book at home instead of reaching for the TV remote.
My highlight from the week is having the privilege of being one of our fleet of Lucky Listeners. This means children come to my office and read to me, and I get to support their reading development, and we discuss the book. I have learned about Orla’s (Year 2) love of animals; Dottie (Year 4) and I travelled to South Africa during the apartheid to learn about Nelson Mandela; Beau (Year 3) taught me about nature studies; and Arjun (Year 3) explored the tribulation of a baby elephant with hay fever.
Prep Reading Week 2026 – Dottie B, Year 4
Click here to hear from Miss Styles, Head of English, about Reading Week
When children read out loud, different skills are developed than when they read in their heads. Such as memory enhancement, better pacing and comprehension and oracy skills. For the listener, it helps their information processing, language growth, and actually reduces their own stress levels when someone else reads to them. Socially it helps us develop stronger relational bonds and gives us the opportunity to explore together different perspectives and experiences. This is why we ask parents, even when their children have developed excellent reading fluency, to keep looking for opportunities to hear their child read.
It was Quennell’s House Assembly this week and they set us all on a mega book swap for the week. For every book brought in to swap, the children received a token to choose from someone else’s donated books. The children busily pointed out their favourite books and became excited about having someone else to discuss them with.
We have also been making preparations for Remembrance. In next week’s blog, I will share with you how we, at the Prep, marked such an important occasion.
For those re-enacting Guy Fawkes’ fate, or marking Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas this weekend, please have a lovely, safe time.
Best wishes,
Alice Goodfellow
