Watch how Alnwick school staff are producing Jackanory-style videos to get children reading

Staff across a wide range of departments at Duchess’s Community High School filmed themselves reading aloud during lockdown.

They have ranged from extracts from fiction and non-fiction texts, poetry, group readings with people taking on different roles, short stories, as well as an ongoing reading of J K Rowling's newly released book 'The Ickabog'.

Some have proved to be quite entertaining, such as when the senior leadership team read Julia Donaldson's 'The Gruffalo' and ‘The Highway Rat’.

Amanda Lawson, the school’s head of English, said: “The reason we feel so passionately about what we have been doing is that we understand the huge benefits of reading aloud to children of all ages.

“And for myself, as an English teacher, I understand how key it is for students to see teachers from all subjects reading (not just English) and in doing so highlighting its importance.

“Not only will our current students have access to these staff readings, but we are also using them as a way of supporting Year 6 to Year 7 transition – very challenging due to current circumstances - so it at least offers some of our 'new' students in September a way of getting to know some of the staff's faces before they join us.”

She added: “We have had some very positive feedback already from staff and students about what we have done.”

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