Reading at Miriam Lord

At Miriam Lord Primary School, reading for pleasure is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that when children love reading, they become confident, curious learners with strong voices and a deeper understanding of the world.  Our aim is for every child to become a volitional reader, someone who chooses to read, reads widely and finds joy in books. Alongside teaching the skills of reading through high-quality phonics and reading skills lessons (using class sets of engaging, challenging and age-appropriate texts), we have developed a rich, research-informed reading for pleasure offer so that reading is not only taught, but lived, shared and celebrated.

Our Reading for Pleasure Offer

We have made purposeful changes over the past three years to ensure reading for pleasure is protected, prioritised and embedded across school.  All pupils have a daily story time entitlement, where teachers read aloud high-quality texts purely for enjoyment. These sessions are relaxed, social and pupil-led, allowing children to listen, respond and talk about stories without pressure or assessment.

Teachers act as reading role models, sharing their own reading lives and recommendations. Reading at Miriam Lord is social and shared, children are encouraged to recommend books, read together and talk about texts through approaches such as book voting, book blethers and informal book talk.  Pupil voice is central to our work. We regularly listen to children, particularly those who are less engaged, to shape reading spaces, book choices and future developments.

Teacher Lending Library

Our Teacher Lending Library supports staff to deepen their knowledge of children’s literature and strengthen their role as reading role models.  The collection is carefully curated and refreshed regularly, linking closely with classroom and library collections. This enables staff to make meaningful book recommendations, build reading relationships with pupils and model authentic reading identities. The lending library also supports ongoing professional development and rich book talk across school.

The Miriam Lord Book Bus

The Miriam Lord Book Bus is a pupil-designed mobile library that increases access to books across school.  Created and curated by pupils, the Book Bus travels to different areas of the school and is used during playtimes and events, encouraging spontaneous, choice-led reading. It helps ensure books are always visible, accessible and part of everyday life at Miriam Lord.

The Miriam Lord Bookshop

The Miriam Lord Bookshop is a fortnightly, pupil-run bookshop that plays a key role in promoting reading for pleasure and access to books at home.  Pupils sell high-quality second-hand books that have been kindly donated by our community. Books are priced affordably so families can build home libraries and every child has the opportunity to own books.  Pupils lead all aspects of the bookshop, including curating window displays, pricing books, recommending reads and running the sales. All funds raised are reinvested into reading resources. Mrs Jagger also produces a monthly Bookshop Newsletter to keep families informed and engaged.

Classroom Book Collections

Every class at Miriam Lord has a termly classroom book collection designed to support reading for pleasure and widen children’s reading experiences.  These collections are carefully curated by staff to include books that are age-appropriately challenging, engaging and diverse in form, genre, theme and representation. They are designed to expose pupils to high-quality texts they may not otherwise encounter, supporting curiosity and broadening reading tastes.

Importantly, these collections are not prescriptive. Pupils are encouraged to browse freely, follow their interests and choose what they would like to read. Children are never forced to read specific books; instead, teachers support choice through conversation, recommendations and book talk.  Class collections are refreshed regularly to reflect pupils’ changing interests and reading journeys, ensuring that classroom reading spaces remain relevant, inviting and motivating for all readers.

Working with Families and the Community

We place great value on reading relationships beyond the classroom. Families are invited into school for story time and library sessions throughout school. Parent reading volunteers support pupils across school, and children take part in an intergenerational reading project with a care home.  Parent voice helps shape our offer, and feedback shows increased confidence and enthusiasm for reading at home.

Partnerships, Research and Recognition

We are proud to work closely with the Open University Reading for Pleasure team, whose research-informed programmes have supported us to enrich and strengthen our reading for pleasure offer over the past few years.  We are also a CLPE Associate School, working regularly with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education to deliver high-quality literacy teaching rooted in research and inspired by a love of stories. Staff regularly attend CLPE training, and our English Lead is currently working as an Associate Teacher on a CLPE EEF-funded research trial, exploring the impact of the Power of Reading nationally.

In recognition of this work, our Reading Lead received the UKLA HarperCollins OU Reading for Pleasure Award 2025 and the Priestley Academy Trust Outstanding Subject Leader Award for Reading 2025.  We are currently working towards achieving the UKLA Reading for Pleasure Quality Mark and remain committed to continually strengthening our practice. We know how important reading for pleasure is to children’s wellbeing, life chances and future success, and we are passionate about ensuring every child at Miriam Lord grows into a confident, motivated reader.

CLPE Power of Reading Case Study Videos

We have been so lucky to work alongside CLPE to implement the Power of Reading over the past five years at Miriam Lord.  We value this partnership, and were delighted when they asked us to be a CLPE Associate School, as they wanted to recognise our commitment towards promoting high standards of reading, books and literature with our children.  They visited us recently to make videos of our practice, to share these with other schools nationally, and use them as case studies of strong practice.  You can find them on YouTube at the links below.