Books about Town for schools

Books about Town for schools’ was a London-wide literacy project that engaged 95 primary and secondary schools. It was designed to complement Books about Town, a high profile public arts event that celebrated London’s literary heritage, with decorated book-themed benches displayed across the city during summer 2014.

The project focused on continued professional development for teachers around teaching whole texts in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, and motivating children to read for enjoyment.

Participating teachers attended training days and then returned to school and put their learning into practice by choosing a London focussed book to teach using the techniques covered at the training.

The project aimed to improve pupil attainment in reading, increase the extent to which they read for enjoyment and improve their knowledge of children’s literature set in London. The evaluation showed evidence of more creative and diverse approaches to teaching whole texts, increased knowledge of quality texts linked with London, and greater confidence in teaching whole texts among participating teachers. The training itself was reviewed positively by the teachers. Primary school pupils showed significantly greater improvement in book knowledge when compared with a control group, and they also reported increased reading enjoyment.

[I’d] never used this approach before and now it is used in my practice all the time and I have cascaded this technique to all staff in the English department.

The resources created for Books about Town have informed our new Reading for Enjoyment training, offered as part of the National Literacy Trust’s Outstanding Literacy Leadership programme.

Emily Best: [email protected]