{"id":2190717,"date":"2026-10-11T05:42:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2190717"},"modified":"2026-10-11T05:42:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:42:32","slug":"peterboroughs-literacy-rates-improve-in-year-of-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2190717","title":{"rendered":"Peterborough’s literacy rates improve in year of reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/0412\/live\/cdb0fe80-c31e-11f1-bd97-fbe5a3482cde.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Children at St Augustine’s Junior School have lots of different lessons to encourage them to read<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A Peterborough headteacher says allowing children to choose what they want to read is an important part of improving literacy rates. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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St Augustine’s Junior School have been promoting a love of reading in their children, with lessons including making book covers, writing graffiti walls and recording book reviews on tablet devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Peterborough has previously scored below the national average for English rates. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2026, 77% of children at St Augustine’s achieved the expected reading rate, above the national average of 75%. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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2026 is the National Year of Reading, an initiative set up by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust to improve reading rates. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘We encourage everyone to read what interests them’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Headteacher Sam Brunt says it’s important children enjoy what they read<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“The traditional way of every child sitting down with the same reading book might be a little bit old school now” says Sam Brunt. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We encourage everyone to read what interests them, whether that’s a recipe book, whether that’s a non-fiction book or a traditional story novel, anything that gets them interested.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Those comments are echoed by year six class teacher Stefano Rocchio: “Reading is kind of the backbone of what we do in school, without reading they are going to struggle with a lot of the other aspects of the curriculum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We try and incorporate reading into everything that we do in school, promoting it through reading cafes, activities and weekly reading sessions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Year six teacher Stefano Rocchio says reading is the ‘backbone’ to the rest of the curriculum<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The children say they enjoy choosing which books to read and show lots of diverse tastes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Isha picked out ‘The Boy in the Dress’ and says: “It’s funny and sad. It’s like a comic and you have lots of laughs. This was my first ever thick book I read.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Annesha enjoys reading a book about artist Frida Kahlo, from the children’s biography series ‘Little People, Big Dreams.’ She says it’s because she ‘likes art and the pictures.’ <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Zina is challenging herself with a longer mystery book called ‘Tunnels.’ <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I really like murder mystery books which sometimes make me cry, this one made me cry a bit when I first read it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Leja is reading a Horrible Histories book called ‘The Woeful Second World War.’ <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s very interesting and gives lots of facts about the Second World War.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Year six children from left Isha, Annesha, Zina and Leja have different tastes in reading material.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The National Literacy Trust has been working with the Department of Education to run ‘The National Year of Reading’ in 2026. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They have been working in cities like Peterborough, where they run activities to promote reading, including working with Peterborough United.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That work has been supported by Peterborough City Council. Katy Cole, the Labour cabinet member for children and young people, says it has been a great help across some of the city’s deprived wards. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“In areas where they have been focusing their efforts we have seen a real improvement in the love, the joy, the enthusiasm and the engagement with reading.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Katy Cole, the cabinet member for children and young people at Peterborough City Council says the Year of Reading has seen an increase in children enjoying books<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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However, the council has faced financial pressures recently, and they consulted on closing a number of their smaller local libraries around the city. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They included Woodston library, which is a short walk from St Augustine’s school and facilitates regular visits from the pupils. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A decision was eventually made to keep them open after a number of local campaigns. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jennie Storey, the Chair of the Friends of Woodston Library says libraries are ‘a magical place’ and the children are always ‘smiling, laughing and reading’ when they visit. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Jennie Storey chairs the ‘Friends of Woodston library’ who work with the junior school<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The importance of reading for young children is often best summed up by parents. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Katie Rose has had her first children’s book published called ‘The Monster Story’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She made up the story for her four year old daughter when she was waiting for an operation. She says it’s really important that parents get involved in reading too:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s just that time together, you sit there together and you pick up a book and you cuddle. It’s one of our favourite times of the day.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MartinMartin Giles\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Katie Rose wrote her first children’s book to help her young daughter<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Do you have a story suggestion for Peterborough? Contact us below.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 11 October at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow Peterborough news on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>Instagram<\/i> and <\/i>X<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cwvg0mje4537o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/0412\/live\/cdb0fe80-c31e-11f1-bd97-fbe5a3482cde.jpg”] Martin Giles\/BBC Children at St Augustine’s Junior School have lots of different lessons to encourage them to read A Peterborough headteacher says allowing children to choose what they want to read is an important part of improving literacy rates. St Augustine’s Junior School have been promoting a love of reading in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2190717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2190717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2190717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2190717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2190717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}