One of my favourite pieces of Reading merchandise is the “I Love Reading” mugs at the University of Reading shop. It works both ways: reading a book is one of the great pastimes of childhood, expanding one’s horizons and one’s literacy.
Yet the current generation in primary school spends the least amount of time reading compared to previous generations, with potentially negative impacts on attention span and self-confidence.
Despite the generational changes in how we spend our hours, we should always encourage young readers to get into the habits early in life. As an English as an Additional Language (EAL) pupil, it was particularly important for me to be able to bring English-language books home from school to read together with my parents. Now, as a published author, I’m glad to speak to book clubs about the joy of writing.
This is why I was so pleased to see the government’s announcement at last week’s Labour Party Conference that it will be making sure every primary school in the country has a library.
Currently, one in seven primary schools in England don’t have a library; that’s around 1700 schools that don’t have a dedicated space that prioritises independent reading. In the most disadvantaged areas of the country, that statistic rises to one in four.
We are lucky in the South East to be one of the areas where this issue is less prevalent. However, there are still over a hundred schools in the region where children do not have a vital place to visit with friends, explore new ideas, or simply to read some of the books in Britain’s great literary history.
I have given assemblies and held school council meetings at over 20 schools in my constituency since the very start of my time as your MP, and at every one of them I have seen the importance of encouraging oracy and literacy. School libraries are the front line in the fight against illiteracy, and a place of refuge in the education system. Their presence in primary schools helps pupils, teachers, and parents during some of the most important and stressful formative years.
Beyond the library doors, the government also announced the expansion of free breakfast clubs, another change that provides the same support to pupils and custodians alike. The early program, tested on 750 schools across the country, has been a great success, delivering 2.6 million breakfasts and saving parents an average of £400 a year. I’m looking forward to seeing the same benefits reach even more families during the national rollout over the coming months.
If you’d like to discuss these changes, or have a local school you’d like to invite me to visit, please do get in touch with my team at [email protected] to share your thoughts!
Yuan Yang is Labour MP for Earley & Woodley
