This year, Manor Junior School will be participating in the National Year of Reading. In 2026, a national spotlight is being put on reading and on the simplest way to help children enjoy it: connecting it to what they already love.

For families, the National Year of Reading also means more support, more ideas and more opportunities to weave reading into busy routines, whatever age your child is.

Monthly Challenge

The theme for the National Year of Reading is GO ALL IN.

Each month, we will be setting a simple, fun challenge for all children to join in with. Participation will be celebrated at school, on our website and in our newsletters. Children who really GO ALL IN will be in with the chance of winning some prizes at the end of this school year.

Entries can be given or emailed to Mrs James: h.james@manor-junior.hants.sch.uk with the subject line NYR entry. Please make sure that you include your child’s full name and class with their entry.

Thank you for getting involved

We really appreciate any way in which you can help us to GO ALL IN with reading this year.

As well as hoping that children enjoy the immediate benefits of reading, reading for pleasure early in childhood is also linked to better cognitive performance and mental wellbeing in adolescence (https://readingagency.org.uk/our-work/our-research/reading-facts/).

Together, we hope to inspire a lifelong love of reading in all of our children.

There is more information on how you can get involved at home here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/families/

January Challenge: Take a photo of a great reading spot at home. If you haven’t got one, can you create one? You could create a reading den…

February Challenge: Share a bedtime story with someone at home. You could read, or be read to – it doesn’t matter! It also doesn’t matter what you read. It could be a book from the school library, or something from home. Maybe you could share a story that you used to enjoy when you were younger. If you can’t find a story to share, try one on www.storyberries.com

If you would like to know more about the incredible proven benefits of sharing bedtime stories, there is more information here: https://www.starchildstories.com/blog/bedtime-stories-science. For example, did you know that the hippocampus in the brain works overtime during storytelling, forming both explicit memories (the story details) and implicit memories (emotional associations with reading and learning)?

There are lots of tips on the above website for sharing stories with your child. My top choice is the section linked to emotional presence:

1. Put away devices and distractions

2. Focus fully on your child

3. Use expressive voices and gestures

4. Cuddle and maintain physical closeness

If nothing else, this special time together sharing stories with your child, no matter how old they are or how confident they may be at reading, is the true magic of storytelling.