As the summer holidays approach the excitement of no lessons, no alarm clocks and no Google Classroom is beginning to grow and the school-less weeks ahead look very appealing (for the children!). It is certainly a time to relax and unwind but also to use the time to read...lots! 

Summer reading is vital for children to retain knowledge and skills learned from the school year as well as develop knowledge and build critical thinking skills for the next school year. Reading on a daily basis helps to maintain literacy skills learned during the year. Children who don’t read are at risk of forgetting these skills. I see reading like exercise. Reading regularly helps to strengthen these skills, keeping the brain in shape,  just like exercising helps to keep muscles in shape. If you stop exercising, you lose muscle, and if you don’t read, you lose those literacy skills. 

By making reading a priority over the summer, we can ensure the children do not develop ‘the summer slide’ - a phrase often used when children come back in September having ‘forgotten’ what they were taught the previous year! 

Reading over the summer is not a suggestion to keep children busy; it's a critical requirement to help children stay on track for their entire educational career and beyond.  Two well known authors, Anthony Horowitz and Cressida Cowell, who also see reading as the key to a whole new world of discovery have filmed a short message for the children at The Hampshire School Chelsea...have you read any of their books?

Katherine McDonald

Head of Academic