The Importance of Reading

Here at Croxley Danes School we highly encourage our students to read by ensuring students have a reading book with them daily. Research tells us that children who read for pleasure enjoy greater academic success at school and in life beyond school.

With the opening of the new school library very shortly, there will be a number of new fiction and non-fiction titles for our students to indulge in. Additionally, a number of reading lists have been uploaded to the school website which will be helpful in supporting students to choose their next book. Finally, a new reading initiative has also been launched where each form has been challenged to read 100 popular titles during the course of the academic year. All students must read at least one title in order for the form to qualify for House Points. Please do follow our English faculty on their twitter feed @CDSEnglish, where news of the Library is shared along with reading matters and book recommendations.

We also have the following two articles to share from our keen student journalists on their enjoyment and benefits of reading.

Katherine S. 9J

Reading is a very key element to your academic and social lives. It excels your vocabulary and improves your communication skills while still being a pleasurable task. Your imagination and creativity sparks from reading and different books can open your mind in different ways. Many books focused on history are a great way to indulge yourself with culture and knowledge while still enjoying your book. These books include fictional war stories or black history.

At Croxley Danes School, students are widely encouraged, by teachers, to read as many books as possible. Either for pleasure or it is enforced with challenges, clubs and activities. Most mornings students read silently and do so at the beginning of English lessons too. At the moment, each year group has a list of 100 books to read, as a class, by the end of the year. Each list is different with a wide range of genres and lengths of books for all the readers of the class. However, one person can only tick off 5 books which means that every child has to read at least one book to complete the task. The school has also acquired many new books for the school library, which will be up and running very soon. Some of the books were donated by kind students, while others were bought with recommendations from the pupils. If you still haven’t had enough of books you can also help as a library reading champion, these are students who support the library once a week during lunchtime and their tutor by keeping track of form reading. There is also a new book club at school which is going to be very exciting. Although not everyone always finds reading as enjoyable as others, everyone should be given a certain time to just read.

Lucy P. 9M

At Croxley Danes School we strive towards students being keen to read and enjoying the novels they choose, whether that genre be adventure, fantasy, mystery or romance… If you do not like reading as much, you probably have not discovered the right book for you! Reading is such a crucial part of your future and can help you in many aspects of your life so we would be happy to help find the perfect type of book for you.

Being able to read means you can understand what certain things mean and the purpose they serve. For example, if you could not you would not be capable of baking your favourite recipe: it would require reading the ingredients and method to make it. This is why our school provides a good amount of reading time in English lessons and Form times to read a sufficient quantity of a books.

Furthermore, reading can provide you with many other benefits here are a few:

Enhancing your general knowledge and grades in all subjects!
Reducing stress and relaxing you. It can take your mind elsewhere, so you do not have to focus on the busy chaos of your life.
Developing your writing skills and vocabulary so you can become more advanced in what you write and express the deeper meaning of it.
Showing sympathy towards others and knowing how to cope in tough situations that pose a challenge.
Helping your focus and concentration in class
Improving your memory so you will not forget things as easily
General enjoyment and contentment

This is why reading is highlighted as an essential skill to learn and is taught with such significance. What book will you choose?