Reading in any form is proven to have huge benefits on academic attainment across all disciplines, not only English Literature, and of course it also has a huge impact on positive mental health and well-being. It is gratifying that this has now been acknowledged at the highest level, and when the National Year of Reading was announced for 2026, the government pledged to give funding to every secondary school in the country to spend purely on reading for pleasure.

We have therefore been able to buy a large quantity of books for the school library. All pupils in the school, from Year 7 to Sixth Form, have been given the opportunity to put in requests for the books they would like to see purchased, and we have new titles on diverse topics - crochet to football, Greek Myth to farm machinery, Star Wars to fishing, and much much more! We have also been able to purchase plenty of fiction, including manga and graphic novels that have been requested over time.

Pupils are thoroughly enjoying seeing these books begin to come into circulation in the school library, and lots of the books already have long waiting lists. The even better news is that the funding is not yet all spent, so if any pupils have any further requests, they only have to ask!