Banbury pupils get stuck into a good book for charity

Year seven students have been taking part in a three week fundraising Readathon, consuming everything from books to comics and from newspapers to magazines. Some have relaxed and listened to audio books.

“They’ve been able to set their own personal targets and they’ve chosen a huge variety of reading matter,” said English tutor Alice Edwards.

“Their choices have depended a lot on how much they usually read and they have chosen what they wanted. We didn’t want to force this on them or make it feel like homework.

“The idea is to encourage a love of reading and enjoyment of a wide range of reading matter. Even the most reluctant readers have been meeting their own targets and enjoying something.”

Some have been spending 15 - 16 hours a week reading in addition to their homework and school reading.

Youngsters for whom English is not their first language have been able to enjoy books in their mother tongue at home and encouraged to read in English at school where the library has dual-language books.

Readathon is a charity endorsed by the author Michael Rosen raising money for books for children confined to hospital.