This is a school where reading for pleasure is embedded in the school ethos and throughout school life. Visitors are met with a book feast as they step through the main entrance: a vending machine dispensing books, a tempting book swap display and, just around the corner, a library space. Each classroom has a book area that invites children to engage with reading. Through displays and book collections, these inviting spaces tempt children to read. As well as modelling a love of reading, the school recognises the importance of book ownership. Children are able to earn credit to spend in the book vending machine, and the school makes sure that all children have a starter book to enable them to engage in the book swap.

The headteacher is passionate about reading for pleasure. She shares her enthusiasm for books in whole school assemblies, by recommending books to each class, and by sharing her own book collection on a bookshelf outside her office. Class reading notebooks are a record of books shared by each class reading community, capturing the children’s thoughts about the books that they have engaged with in assemblies, as shared read-aloud texts, through PSHE work as well as the curriculum. The headteacher’s strategic vision for the school as a reading school is evident in the culture and environment seen throughout the school.  Julie Holmwood – Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, University Centre Shrewsbury

We are incredibly proud to have received the ‘Leading in Reading’ accreditation which recognises how passionate we are about reading at Mount Pleasant, particularly reading for pleasure.  We strive to foster a lifelong love of reading for every child and ensure that all our pupils have access to a rich and varied diet of high quality books.’  Alison Benge – Mount Pleasant Primary School