This week, we launched our exciting whole-school reading focus – and what a brilliant start to the half term it has been! Each year group has begun a new author study, which will form an important part of their guided reading learning, giving children the opportunity to apply and refine their reading skills through a range of engaging texts.

Our new approach to reading ensures that every year group studies a different author each half term. The aim is for our children to gain a deeper understanding of how authors write by exploring their style, voice, and themes and to help every child discover the joy of reading for pleasure. We’ve already seen lots of excitement as children recognise authors whose books have even been made into films!

By studying a range of authors, we hope to inspire our pupils to read widely and choose books that they truly love - whether that’s because of the author’s writing style, the stories they tell or the worlds they create.

Each year group found out who their new author was in creative and imaginative ways this week…

Year 4 were greeted with a mysterious letter from a famous author, asking for their help to solve clues and uncover the identity of a writer who had “vanished from a writing conference!” After some clever detective work (and a few guesses that included J.K. Rowling!), the children finally revealed their mystery author: Cressida Cowell. The classroom buzzed with excitement as they discussed her books and couldn’t wait to dive into their new stories, including How To Train Your Dragon!

Meanwhile, Year 6 became reading crime scene investigators! Their task was to explore a crime scene filled with evidence and clues about their new author, Katherine Rundell. The children worked together to write incident reports, using their inference skills to piece together what kind of writer she might be and what her stories could be about. After reading a sneak peek of Rooftoppers, they were thrilled to see how close their predictions were.

Class 18 also had an exciting start to the half term! They were challenged to solve clues to uncover their new class book. Using teamwork, curiosity, and brilliant inference skills, the children cracked the puzzle and revealed the title: The Lost Happy Endings!  They shared fantastic predictions about what might happen in the story and can’t wait to see where this magical tale will take them next.

What an inspiring start to our author studies! We can’t wait to see our children continue to explore new worlds, meet new characters, and, most importantly, develop a lifelong love of reading.

Author Study Launch