Star Readers

Reading plays an important role in every stage of a young person’s development. Learning new words and seeing them used in different contexts can help pupils to improve their vocabulary, as well as their language and comprehension skills. This in turn will help them to become more proficient writers, who can use and apply words with confidence, clarity and flair.

Reading a wide variety of books from an assortment of different authors will help our pupils to grow into powerful and knowledgeable communicators and, as they prepare to sit the exams that will shape their futures, reading will equip our pupils with many of the tools they need to succeed.

As well as being a gateway to learning and understanding, reading also helps young people to develop their social and cultural capital by giving them access to new ideas and experiences, and encouraging them to empathise with people and characters from all walks of life. Reading also helps pupils to make sense of their own reality, see things from other people’s perspectives and expand their horizons beyond the limitations of their towns, cities and schools.

Our Star Readers initiative is designed to promote the joys and benefits of reading to all of our pupils. Experienced staff have searched through the best of contemporary and classic literature to provide a recommended reading list for each year group. All of the books are aligned with our leadership specialism and have been selected with the age of students in mind. The books have been hand-picked to give pupils a window into other people’s worlds, promote discussion and build reading resilience.

The recommended reading lists for each year group have been compiled into the Star Readers Primary Edition (which includes recommended reading lists for pupils in Reception through to Year 6) and the Star Readers Secondary Edition (which includes recommended reading lists for pupils in Year 7 to Year 13). All our pupils are provided with a copy of the relevant booklet and encouraged to participate in the Star Readers Challenge, which involves reading at least 10 books from the recommended reading list for their year group.

To monitor pupils’ progress and development, all pupils have a reading record to track their own reading and participation in the Star Readers Challenge. All pupils who complete the Challenge by reading at least 10 books from the recommended reading list over the course of the academic year will be awarded a Star Readers certificate of achievement during their school’s annual Star Readers Awards Ceremony, which celebrates pupils’ commitment to reading.

A Star Readers Subject Edition, providing a list of key texts related to core curriculum subjects, will also be released as part of the initiative.

A list of the titles featured in the Star Readers Primary Edition and Star Readers Secondary Edition are available to download below.

Latest News

Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham judged ‘outstanding’ in first Ofsted inspection

The whole school community is celebrating after the report, published by Ofsted this week, confirms that the school has achieved outstanding status in all areas with no recommendations for improvement. 

Read More

Star Institute

Building a world-class education workforce

Star empowers people to make a significant contribution to a self-improving school system.

Learn More

Leadership Courses

High quality, accredited leadership training

Star is a lead provider of the Department for Education’s Golden Thread of professional development.

Learn More
top