Carla Da Silva 📚

Only 10% of boys aged 14-16 read daily for pleasure, UK study finds National Literacy Trust survey says time for books is being crowded out by schoolwork, screens and sports Fewer than one in 10 boys aged 14 to 16 read daily, according to research, which found reading for pleasure was being crowded out of teenage lives by schoolwork, screens and sports. While reading declines for both boys and girls in early adolescence, there are “signs of recovery” among girls in later teenage years, but boys’ engagement remains persistently low, according to the National Literacy Trust (NLT). Continue reading...

Only 10% of boys aged 14-16 read daily for pleasure, UK study finds

Saw Sprive on Dragons Den. A good idea to save money on things I'd buy anyway (e.g. weekly shop) & then use the savings to overpay my mortgage.

Sign up with my code QADWKP1B, to see how it works for yourself.

Here's the link to download:
linkprod.sprive.com/refer?code=Q...

Stormzy calls reading a ‘superpower’ as he backs accessible books campaign The musician is championing the annual Quick Reads initiative, which will release six short, digestible titles for ‘nonreaders and lapsed readers’ in April for £1 each

‘Stormzy calls reading a ‘superpower’ as he backs accessible books campaign.
The musician is championing the annual Quick Reads initiative, which will release six short, digestible titles for ‘nonreaders and lapsed readers’ in April for £1 each’ www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

GCSE results app will save schools millions, says DfE All Year 11 students will be able to access their GCSE results digitally on a new app from this summer, with the government claiming that this will cut down schools’ admin costs

www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Happy New Year!

Gousto Gousto

If you'd like to try Gousto in 2026, use this code for 60% off your first box: gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_co...

*NEW* for AQA Lang P1 from June 2026 onwards:

✅ The Day of the Triffids

Specimen paper and a PPT slide deck with resources, scaffolds and model answers, like so 👇

Repost and help yourself 😊

www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bd6qg...

Delayed school funding allocations to be published 'shortly' DfE partly blames spending review for delay to NFF guidance and allocations, normally released in July

⌛ Delayed indicative funding allocations for schools will be published 'shortly', the education secretary has said, partly blaming June's spending review for the hold-up

Just taking a moment to read and reflect on the CAR.

There are many general statements that are welcome such as the recognition that sequences of learning differ between subjects, the nat curriculum is a tool, teachers are the curriculum makers etc.

A few thoughts on the English/literacy bits.

Skills white paper: everything school leaders need to know The government’s post-16 strategy has finally been unveiled

New 'stepping stone' resit qualifications, V-levels, a 16 to 19 funding review and an education 'auto-enrolment' from school will all be introduced under the government’s skills white paper. Here's everything school leaders need to know...

How schools risk losing integrity, one decision at a time Schools often talk a good talk about values, ethos and identity - but if these sentiments are not matched by action, teachers and students soon see through it, says this former international school…

‘If students grow up in systems where integrity is negotiable, they won’t just lose faith in schools’: one former international teacher highlights the risk of the slow erosion of integrity in schools

Cambridge to make all IGCSE English literature exams open book Students already had the possibility of consulting drama texts in the exam but, in future, all Cambridge IGCSE literature in English papers will be open book, including prose

Again, iGCSEs - which aren't available to those in state schools - gain a possible advantage. While I don't disagree with open book (learning quotations is a waste of learning time), this just widens the gap and creates further inequality in an already unfair system.
www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

To boost learning & reduce workload...

Agree the toolkit:

↓

All set for tomorrow!

Olo edu people. Does anyone have a writing mat for creative writing and analytical writing they could kindly share with me so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Happy to share resources back. @englishassociation.bsky.social @literacyengine.bsky.social
Thank you in advance.

Teachers: here's your Sunday night checklist:
✅️ lanyard
✅️ keys
✅️ alarm
✅️ passwords

Yep

School staff data potentially 'compromised' in cyber attack Data breach reported by IT firm Intradev may have affected data held by School Central Record

Exclusive: The names, addresses, phone, national insurance and passport numbers of school staff members may have been 'compromised' in a cyber attack on the IT provider of a firm that maintains background check records for schools

schoolsweek.co.uk/school-staff...

I actually need to find this on (the horrible) Centre Services

Important enough for a 17-page report. But not important enough to count as part of their grade on their understanding and use of language.

Absolutely

Food for thought

How did each GCSE subject perform in 2025? While maths and English saw a small drop in those achieving a grade 4, many other subjects had slightly better results than last year

📈 How did your subject perform in this year’s GCSEs? @jasminenorden.bsky.social and @cerysturner.bsky.social dig into today’s results data… #GCSEResultsDay2025

GCSE exams hit by February cyberattack Exam papers from two boards were affected, but Ofqual says students can have ‘full confidence’ in their results this year

Ofqual declines to say how many papers were affected or provide more details about a major cyberattack that took place earlier this year, affecting GCSE exam papers from two major exam boards

Year 7 recommended reading list for children aged 11-12 Books for Year 7 - our reading recommendations including easy reads and challenging titles for pupils in secondary school KS3 aged 11-12.

Year 7 KS3 recommended reading list of books for school pupils aged 11-12 including books by Malorie Blackman, Louis Sachar and Elizabeth Laird #YAlit #ukedchat schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-list...

Absolutely! I would love to see the shikigami on film

I really enjoyed this series and Ann Sei Lin is so lovely!

Graphic novels for young adults aged 12-16 in KS3 & KS4 Graphic novels for teens and young adults to appeal to reluctant and able readers including stories by Tony Medina and Meg-John Barker.

Great graphic novels for 12-16s including stories by Tony Medina, Terri Libenson, Raina Telgemeier & Rob Williams. #kitlit #YA #YAlit #ukedchat #RfP schoolreadinglist.co.uk/secondary-ks...

Waterstones opens 10 new stores a year as younger adults embrace reading Bookshop chain says people are keen to escape their screens and says rise in sales is partly down to BookTok

A good news story!

'Waterstones opens 10 new stores a year as younger adults embrace reading.'

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I want (and am fortunate enough) to have both a normal whiteboard and an interactive oen in my classroom 🙂