By Miss Silvester, Head of English

Margaret Fuller’s statement about reading and leadership is one of optimism and pragmatism. An early feminist and one of the most prominent literary figures from the nineteenth century, Fuller hoped for a better and more enlightened world in the future, and had a firm belief that reading was central to achieving this.

As an English teacher in 2021, I firmly believe in the importance of picking up a book from academic, social and wellbeing perspectives. Escaping into a book opens up a whole world of possibilities, showing us different cultures and allowing the imagination to run free – something that an age of technology does not always permit with quite the same freedom. To me, there is nothing better than curling up, opening up the first page and switching off from the rest of the world. This is partly what has inspired our #StopDropRead campaign, where the entire school will pause on World Book Day (Thursday 4th March) to take some time to read purely for pleasure.

There has also been a surge of reading in lockdown. According to the Reading Agency, 31% of people surveyed said that they were reading more during lockdown than they did before, with a particular spike being seen amongst younger people. In an ironic twist, books about fictional epidemics saw a huge increase in sales during 2020, with some sales up by over 1000%. I’m personally more of a fan of the classics so probably wouldn’t recommend books about pandemics during a pandemic, but the joy of literature is that there is something for everyone. 

This view on the benefits of reading is not just an anecdotal observation to try and encourage everyone to go to their local bookshop as soon as they are open again. A government commissioned report by the Education Standards research team mapped out several of the key benefits of reading for pleasure. Their findings on this include that there is a positive relationship between reading frequency, reading enjoyment and attainment. The study also showed that reading for pleasure can help with: text comprehension and grammar, a positive attitude to reading, increased general knowledge, pleasure of reading in later life.

If you are thinking ‘well, of course an English teacher would want us to read’, then you are partially correct. However, reading for pleasure is truly cross-curricular. Below are some thoughts from across a range of NHEHS departments who share their reading habits and what they believe the benefits of reading can be. So go and pick up a book. You know you want to….

Miss Goodsell (Music)

I read every night before bed as it helps me to fall asleep. Not because I read boring books, but because reading takes me out of my own head, into another world. I love dystopian novels, especially those by Margaret Atwood such as the Oryx and Crake trilogy.

Mrs Spencer (French)

Reading has helped me hugely since last year. It helps me keep in touch with a very good friend of mine, as we exchange books. It turns out we have very similar taste. Social media and screen time can be very addictive. They hook us up. But there is nothing like being hooked by a book! It is satisfying and captivating. And the sense of accomplishment is so much greater.

Books have taught me a lot about history, psychology, current affairs, and life in general.

My most recent reads to name a few that have changed the way I see things: The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris; The Girl with the Louding Voice, Abi Dare; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig. 

Miss Cagnino (Art)

Reading around subject matter and artists can really help develop the type of language you need to talk about your own work with. It’s super important to read what other people are saying about artists to help form your own ideas – you may not think all work is any good but you need the language to able to understand why.

Reading transports us to another place and in terms of wellbeing it can certainly take us away from our immediate worries and anxieties. Characters in books often work through problems and negotiate challenging situations – we can so learn so much from them.

I love reading. I have always loved escaping into another world and even a beach read can spark ideas. I’m also really nosy and like to know what people are thinking!!! When I was a teenager I was obsessed with ‘diary of a teenage crush’ which would come out weekly in J17 magazine – I think I went to art school because of it – the ‘crush’ was inevitably a moody artsy photographer type!!!

I recently loved reading Educated by Tara Westover – it is such an inspiring story about how important education is in changing your life but also an insight into families who live outside of societal norms. Would really recommend! I also really love Murakami’s Wind up Bird – a really bizarre story of a man who is having a midlife crisis and keeps finding himself inexplicably stuck at the bottom of a well. It’s teaching me to be more quiet and still when I need to think things through rather than desperately scrambling for solutions! 

Miss Motyer (Physics)

I take great pleasure in escaping the every-day pressures and thoughts of normal life and leaping into another world. I’m a big fan of romance novels, as I’m a romantic at heart! No book beats Pride and Prejudice – Oh Mr Darcy!

Miss Hopkins (Mandarin)

If you study a language, you should be reading, and not just in the foreign language. Better skills in your native tongue help in your second language, although of course reading in a foreign language helps too. The first book I ever read in Chinese was Charlotte’s Web, and I loved it! It was so satisfying to read a whole book in a different language. 

Miss Critcher (Maths)

Who isn’t a big fan of reading?! I am a huge fan of real-life stories about people who have overcome adversity, or just biographies as no one’s life is simple! I often read out snippets to my tutor group. One memorable one is from Becoming by Michelle Obama – ‘in life, control what you can’ has often been quoted to 13HC. I also loved The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (on the back of an assembly by Mrs Irwin about this book); being homeless, buying a tent off Ebay and walking away from everything with a terminal illness thrown in sound almost insurmountable challenges. And Ian Wright dedicated his autobiography to his primary school teacher because of the influence he has had on him.

Dr Snook (Classics)

I think the general benefits of reading (increased vocabulary, creativity, imagination, empathy etc) are well known. One of the perks, particularly for Classics and the issue to trying to keep hold of a thousand years’ worth of history across two civilisations is that fact that the myths and the history keep getting reworked, so you end up reading the same story over and over in different ways. My GCSE Latin teacher told me that you need to read/do something 27 times before you know it (she may have said 23, but she only said it once, so I don’t know for sure). I could read The Iliad 27 times, or I could read the versions by Homer, Pat Barker, Michael Hughes, Stephen Fry etc. Each one brings a different perspective (with the bonus of being similar to how Greek myths & oral tradition worked as well, similar but different each time) but repeats the same crux of the story.

I love that feeling when you notice your progress through a book, the adrenaline as you near the end, the sense of both accomplishment and loss when you reach the end (I have a preference towards series of books to lessen the ‘loss’, although it’s massively magnified when you hit the last page of the whole series).

For me, reading is a double-edged sword where both edges are good for you. It scratches my itch for learning (new things, things I already know, doesn’t really matter) and distracts me from the world around me at the same time. A good book can take you absolutely anywhere, any time. 

Ms Wright (Learning Support)

I read The Salt Path by Raynor Winn which I thought was a lovely book.  A couple who lose everything but find the natural world a healer for them.  Lovely descriptive book of walking on South West Coast Path and shows how the fresh air and sea breezes help them come to terms with their lot.

Reading demonstrates how other people learn from their experiences whilst giving an insight and description of things you might not know about.  It can be a humbling experience, particularly reading this book and makes you realise how fortunate you are.  You can also learn how other people triumph from their bad luck.

Mrs Plowden (Art)

Reading creates pictures in my mind. It’s like a trip to a gallery or a holiday for my lockdown brain. I’ve recently re-read The Great Gatsby because it takes me to another era, but parallels the America of today.

Mrs Sheikh (Spanish)

The most adrenaline fuelled moment of the reading experience is the one when recognition streaks across the page and you find your innermost thoughts and feelings, whose outlines you only vaguely intuit, suddenly thrown into relief. Yet, what happens at that moment is not the exact replication of experience where writer and reader become indistinguishable, rather two consciousnesses come into contact across time and space to discover what is shared in the human condition. Reading therefore teaches us empathy, that most vital of sensibilities which enables us to understand others in their difference.  

Mr Shoults (Classics)

Reading takes me to other worlds, to understand a bigger picture, to understand other voices; it stretches the mind. I recommend A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, a doorstop of a book, but which it is impossible not to race through, because of the rich cast of characters.  And secondly, Dorothy Kearns’ Team of Rivals, a brilliant study of Abraham Lincoln.