Blanchelande pupils ‘flooded’ with books for festive season

Every household in Iceland receives a copy of the annual book bulletin called Bokatidindi in November every year. Receiving the book is the start of the popular Icelandic Christmas tradition Jolabokaflod, meaning ‘Christmas book flood’. On Christmas Eve Icelandic families exchange books as gifts and spend the evening reading and sharing the stories with one another.

This Christmas the Jolabokaflod came all the way from ‘the land of fire and ice’ to the Year 7 students at Blanchelande.

The children enjoyed the opportunity to immerse themselves in reading in the run up to Christmas, with the only homework they received across all of their subjects being reading. Students have been reading books and listening to audiobooks across all their subjects.

‘It has been a complete revelation to me how easy it is to incorporate reading into my daily schedule, now that I am listening to an audiobook. Rather than seeing reading as an arduous task, it is now a treat to look forward to at the start of my day,’ said Year 7 student Euan Webb.

‘The enthusiasm shown by all, including some previously reluctant readers, when they advertised their reading choices to the rest of the class at the end of the Jolabokaflod, really demonstrates the value of giving children the time and the specialist individual guidance to discover their own personal pathways towards engaging with recreational reading and forming lifelong reading habits,’ said librarian Jenny Toerien.

‘If we have encouraged more children to build reading into their everyday routines, then our Jolabokaflod has been a success.’

Blanchelande has a well-established recreational reading programme for Year 7 and 8 students, where pupils work with staff to set their own challenges from seven different categories.

In Year 9 the focus shifts to supporting reading for learning from information, with a year-long signature work inquiry in ICT, geography and English, building towards the GCSE English language speaking and listening assessment and, for some, the Year 10 higher project qualification.

‘At Blanchelande we understand that, as well as being important for children’s social and emotional development, reading is also vital for academic success across all subjects,’ said head of enquiry-based learning and libraries, Darryl Toerien.

‘If we truly value something, then we should demonstrate that to our students by dedicating curriculum and homework time to it. As children move from learning to read in primary school to reading to learn in secondary school, it is easy for recreational reading to get squeezed out by other activities if we don’t support our students to build good habits – particularly as the lure of screens becomes greater.’

Blanchelande was shortlisted for the 2023 UK School Library Association Enterprise of the Year Award in the summer.

‘With its outstanding library provision and the work of Mr and Mrs Toerien, Blanchelande is transforming itself into an outstanding reading school dedicated to reading for pleasure and knowledge. This is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children in their education, and for life,’ said principal Robert O’Brien.