I was so busy staring out at the view from the staff room yesterday, I quite forgot to take a picture for my blog. Perched at the top of the Forest of Dean, the school really does have a forest view and well beyond into Wales, with the Sugarloaf Mountain in Abergavenny, Hay Bluff and the Black Mountains visible in the distance and the Forest of Dean spread out below. Quite magnificent.

I had a great day telling stories to the whole school yesterday. Forest View are at the start of a week of raising the profile of reading with Cinderford Library which, astonishingly, is facing possible closure.

I cannot repeat enough that reading for pleasure is the key to advancement in education. Literacy, as taught in schools today, is what we used to call grammar. Real education comes with the confidence to read, research and find things out on one’s own. Literacy does not prepare you for this. It may help you correct the spelling in a book but it won’t help you understand what the book is saying. Only sustained reading of fun, exciting and engaging stories and non-fiction books will ever increase reading ability, which automatically follows on into raised writing skills. You can’t improve your writing if you never see it being done! And what is there to write about if children have no experience of the world? Reading brings the world to their imaginations.

Forest View seem to understand this and are busy promoting reading throughout the school. I’m looking forward to meeting up again at Cinderford Library on Saturday to present prizes to Children who have excelled this week. See you then!