National Year of Reading 2026
At HAOC, we’re ‘All In’
The National Year of Reading 2026 is a UK-wide campaign led by the Department for Education and delivered by literacy charities including World Book Day, the National Literacy Trust and Coram Beanstalk. The initiative aims to help people reconnect with the joy of reading at a time when reading for pleasure is in decline.
Reading plays a vital role in expanding minds, building confidence and encouraging creativity. However, as life becomes busier and digital distractions grow, many people, particularly teenagers, read less by choice. The National Year of Reading seeks to change this by reconnecting reading with everyday culture and reminding us that stories, ideas and imagination belong everywhere.
The secondary school years are a time when reading for pleasure often drops off. Young people’s interests broaden and their independence grows, and they can quickly disengage from anything that feels forced. This campaign responds by encouraging students to read about what genuinely interests them, “if you’re into it, read into it”, and to use formats that feel more relevant to them, reading goes beyond books and includes blogs, comics, magazines, song lyrics, audiobooks and podcasts.
While reading isn’t a solution to all challenges, many young people find it offers calm, escape and reassurance. Libraries also make reading accessible and free, with a wide range of physical and digital options designed for independent use.
At HAOC, we are proud to be ‘All In’, putting reading and literacy firmly in the spotlight to encourage more of our young people to read for pleasure. Scroll down to see some of the ways we are supporting students throughout 2026 and beyond.
Each year in March, we are excited to celebrate World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to encourage a love of reading and to celebrate the magical world of books with our students.
As part of our celebrations, students are invited to dress up as a character from a book for the day, which is a great way for them to engage with their favourite stories and share their love of reading with their peers.
We also organise various additional activities too which promote reading, including creative writing competitions, The Great Big Footy and Booky quiz, as well as a ‘Hunt the Lanyard’ competition, with valuable achievement points being awarded for anyone taking part! Please scroll down to see a few examples of the fantastic efforts from our team of staff over the years.
Special Guests!
To further celebrate World Book Day and 2026 being The National Year of Reading, we were delighted to have a fantastic group of guests record short video messages especially for our students, sharing the books that shaped them and why reading matters. These included voices that both staff and students will recognise, from Sanjeev Bhaskar and Dr Adam Kay to Max Balegde, as well as familiar names to us all such as Rob Rinder and Jodie Whittaker.
This is a wonderful reminder that reading opens doors, and that people from all walks of life credit books with shaping who they became.
To find out more about all the books mentioned in the above video please click here.
Reading widely is one of the most powerful ways to develop knowledge, curiosity and a lifelong love of learning.
Our recommended reading lists have been carefully curated to support, inspire and challenge readers at every stage, offering a rich range of texts across genres, subjects and levels of difficulty.
They reflect both classic and contemporary works, encouraging thoughtful engagement, independent exploration and confident reading for pleasure.
The National Reading Champions Quiz, organised by the National Literacy Trust, is a national reading campaign that supports and celebrates reading culture within schools, aiming to promote reading enjoyment, encourage diverse reading and improve reading stamina.
This celebration of reading gives our young people the opportunity to share their love of books with other like-minded youngsters and to demonstrate just how much they have learned from their reading.
The programme involves two national, live quizzes; a senior quiz for ages 11-14 years and a junior quiz for ages 9-11 years.
Students at HAOC are invited to take part in the senior quiz which involves 23 regional heats delivered across the whole of the UK throughout February and March. The winners of the heats go on to compete in an amazing grand final event in London where one team will be crowned as Senior National Reading Champions.
The fantastic quizmaster Mr Dilly is in residence for the heats and final. Over the years, he has written and performed shows on a vast range of historical subjects and re-imagined countless classic tales, he has so far enriched the learning of over 95,000 children and entertained countless families!
The Carnegies
The Carnegies are the UK’s longest running and best-loved children’s book awards, recognising outstanding reading experiences created through writing and illustration in books for children and young people.
The Carnegie Medals are awarded for Writing and Illustrations and are awarded by children’s librarians for outstanding books written in English for children and young people.
Carnegie Shadowing Awards
The books that are short listed for Carnegie medals are taken through to the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme, which engages thousands of children and young people in reading these short-listed books via reading groups in schools and public libraries.
HAOC has been involved in these awards for many years, and are proud that so many of our students are excited to take part each year.
The process begins with students meeting up with other local schools, to debate which book they thought was best, following this up by writing a book review, or creating artwork that reflects their choice. Students then vote for their favourite book overall, as well as the book with their favourite illustrations. The books with the most votes are subsequently awarded the ‘Shadowers’ Choice Awards’.
The Carnegies always attract a lot of interest and sees many of our students nominated and winning prizes for their reviews of shortlisted books.
Poetry by Heart is a national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges in England. It’s also a website for teaching and learning about poetry, by heart and out loud, and with plenty of choice for young people to explore poems and find the ones that speak to them.
Taking part in Poetry by Heart is all about developing confidence with poetry in an enjoyable, accessible and engaging way that leads to its life-long enjoyment.
The overall benefits for students are numerous; Students claim to feeling an incredible sense of achievement once they succeed in learning a poem by heart. It helps them with their concentration, and memory, as well as enabling students to practice oracy including learning how to manage pace and timing, holding silence, eye contact and gesture, as well as learning how rhymes knit together.
At HAOC we have had wonderful entries from our students that have learned some of the most renowned poems of all time, including several entries from our Year 7 cohort that have been filmed and sent to the organisation.
Without a doubt, the students have gained huge confidence as well as vital memory skills for performing in front of others, as well as in front of cameras which will aid them greatly in cognitive development.
At HAOC we have been delighted in 2026 to see the launch of a brand-new initiative, our Parental School Book Club.
Our aim has been to bring parents/carers together to share stories, spark imagination, develop a lifelong love of reading, and ultimately to support with their child’s reading at home.
This came about because of recent studies that revealed parental reading enjoyment is weakening which has a direct impact on student engagement. The number of children that enjoy reading daily has halved in the last twenty years, with only 25% of boys and 39% of girls ages 8-18, saying they enjoy reading every day.
However, 1 in 5 said they would read more if they had recommendations from friends or family, and that their enjoyment would increase if they could discuss their reading with family, friends and teachers.
The Book Club takes place once every half term, on Wednesdays from 3.30–4.30pm in the school library. Each session includes time to explore a chosen book that their child is either currently reading or is familiar with, take part in discussions and activities, and enjoy a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
The Reading Leaders Programme is a peer-mentoring scheme for secondary schools that trains older students to support younger students who are struggling with reading. The initiative boosts reading fluency and has found to improve outcomes for younger students.
The programme runs annually as part of the nationwide Coram Beanstalk scheme, and not only nurtures a love of books but also builds confidence, communication, and leadership skills.
At HAOC students in Yr 9 and 10 are invited to apply for the opportunity to support younger readers in Yr 7 by becoming their reading buddy. Then for a period of 10 weeks, they will choose and read books and other reading materials together, talk about the stories and characters, and support and encourage each other’s reading journey.
For our Reading Leaders, this is also a chance for them to develop their own leadership abilities and make a positive impact on someone else’s learning. Moreover, as a reading leader they will be able to add this experience to their CV.
Feedback from our students is always really positive; mentees comment they have better fluency and understanding and enjoy reading much more than they used to. Leaders find they grow in confidence and enhance their leadership qualities.
Below are our successful cohorts who graduated from the programme in 2026, it has been wonderful to see them enjoy the scheme so much.
Reading Leaders 2026
Reading Mentees 2026
Each year we are proud to host a Scholastic Book Fair in our school library, providing a wonderful opportunity for parents/carers to learn more about supporting their child’s reading.
We understand that parents and carers care deeply about their children’s education and want them to be successful. However, not everyone feels completely confident in supporting their children to read at home. For example, families may find the work/home balance difficult so reading isn’t always prioritised, parents/carers may not be confident readers themselves or may have a learning barrier such as dyslexia, or they may be unsure how to select appropriate books for their child.
At these events we provide information, guidance and practical tips to help solve many of these problems and demonstrate the positive impact that creating the right reading habits within the home can have, not only on children’s reading and academic progress, but their wider wellbeing too.
The book fair supplies us with over 200 of the newest and best books for parents/carers to purchase, from over 60 publishers, including exclusive titles that are not available in shops or at any other Fairs.
With each purchase HAOC receives rewards to spend on other books and essential resources which will further support our students. For 2026 we raised over £400 in book sales, a fantastic achievement!
We are delighted to share that HAOC will be organising a special rewards trip for the Summer Term 2026: a Literary Book Tour of London.
This exciting educational experience will celebrate and reward students who have demonstrated a significant improvement in their reading age over the course of the academic year. Invited students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich literary heritage of our capital, visiting some of London’s most iconic literary landmarks and locations that have inspired generations of writers and readers.
The tour will also include visits to renowned publishing houses and bookshops, offering students a behind-the-scenes insight into the world of books, storytelling, and the journey from author to reader. Throughout the day, students will be encouraged to engage with literature in a meaningful and memorable way, helping to foster a lifelong love of reading and learning.
This trip has been designed not only as a reward for effort and progress, but also as an inspirational experience to motivate continued growth in reading and literacy.
Further details will be shared closer to the time, but a few examples of the places available to visit are shown below.
We very much look forward to celebrating our students’ achievements through this unique opportunity.
London's floating Barge Bookshop - 'Word on the Water'
Bloomsbury Gordon Square
The British Library
