The Education Policy Institute chaired a roundtable with headteachers, teachers, special educational needs coordinators, and local authority representatives from across Essex in March 2023, to discuss lessons learned during the Year of Reading and how to carry forward the positive legacy of the programme. This roundtable was held in partnership with the Essex Education Task Force. This review provides a summary of the discussions held.
The Year of Reading comprised a number of initiatives, including evidence-based interventions to improve reading skills. The full list of programmes including descriptions is available here. The stated aim of the Year of Reading was for all primary schools to strive for 11-year-old children to attain a ‘reading age’ which matched their chronological age and for all secondary schools to push for pupils at 16+ to read in line with their age; as part of this, schools should track reading ages through primary and secondary. Currently around three quarters of primary and secondary pupils in Essex meet the expected reading standard at key stage 2 and key stage 4 respectively, comparable to the national average.
