In a recent article, we shared with you the importance of cultivating a love of stories and reading in our Junior School students, but at Wellington it does not stop there. We understand that, as children mature and develop, their interests, motivations and priorities change, and with that we continue to work hard throughout Senior School to ensure reading remains a key avenue for students’ creative and cognitive development.
Educators everywhere agree on the importance of developing a love of reading in children – all the way to adulthood. The cognitive benefits (sharpening the mind, increasing knowledge, helping memory and enhancing creativity) are just a few of the number of reasons why it is so important for children - and adults - to continue to read, and to enjoy reading.
In the Senior School we build on the support provided in the Junior School by ensuring that all students in Years 7 to 10 have their reading tracked by their English teacher, with students expected to read one book a month for pleasure and encouraged to vary their reading tastes. Students share their love of reading by doing at least one book presentation in the year based on a book that has personally resonated with them.
As part of the curriculum, Key Stage 3 students study class reader texts (for example, Trash by Andy Mulligan for Year 7, Thornhill by Pam Smy for Year 8 and My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgewick in Year 9). These texts allow the opportunity for studying writers' use of language in depth, developing personal responses and exploring themes and characterisation- all of which are key skills needed for the study of IGCSE English Literature.
Our Year 10 students, who have just begun their IGCSE courses this academic year, will study two brilliant texts to begin with - A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
At Wellington, the English department's aim is to encourage students to develop a love of literature and reading and to realise the importance of its study (to develop empathy, to embark on metaphorical adventures to places otherwise we would not have the opportunity to visit, to experience emotions and feelings we would otherwise not be able to experience, and to make us into all-round better human beings!)
