Early Exposure to Books
Starting in Nursery, children enjoy weekly visits to the library as part of their timetable. In an average week, Ms Rebekah Fieschi, the Junior School Librarian at our Ravelston site, reads regularly to our Nursery–P3 children. From Primary 1, students begin to browse the extensive collection of stories available in their library. Ms Fieschi also runs the popular Book Lovers’ Club.
“Reading does not come easily to every child,” she points out. “But even if some children struggle to read or struggle to read for pleasure, all children like a story.”
Creating a positive relationship with books early on—both at school and at home—is the first step in forming that positive association. These weekly library visits continue throughout Junior School, giving children access to a well-curated collection of graphic novels, comics, and audiobooks, in addition to traditional chapter books. The visits also provide the perfect opportunity for teachers to encourage children to make independent reading choices.
Between Primary 4 and Primary 7, each year group appoints two Reading Ambassadors, who are responsible for inspiring and encouraging their peers to engage with books. Each ambassador takes on this role for an entire session, and the commitment is clear, as one Primary 7 student explains:
“I want to help younger children find that reading is amazing and that you don’t need to be good at it—you can read no matter what.”
Creative Approaches in the Classroom
Dr Kirsten Fenton, a Primary 6 teacher and Reading Schools Champion at Erskine Stewart Melville, offers many inventive ways to engage her class, including reluctant readers:
“For me, it’s all about the hook,” she explains. “It’s about finding something that’s going to enthuse children and give them that creativity. I start off in my class by telling them that we are all storytellers. We all have stories to tell.”
Erskine Stewart Melville Junior School started 2025 with a “New Year Readolution” challenge, in which staff can receive book recommendations from students. Teachers can opt to be matched with a book based on their favourite genres, or what the children think best represents them and their personalities. This activity draws on the children’s reading expertise, lets teachers see what is currently popular in their classes, and created open discussions about books and reading.
Dr Fenton’s class designed “Reading Rivers”, in which the children created a visual record of what they read over the course of a day, in and outside the classroom. Reading rivers such as these emphasise that some reading is done for pleasure, some for “work” and some for “real life”, crucially highlighting that reading is key to our daily routine.
Last year, Erskine Stewart Melville Junior School children took part in a St Andrews Day reading record organised by KILTS to promote Scottish books, authors and illustrators by encouraging as many children as possible to read simultaneously for twenty minutes. Over 50 schools and 6000 children participated from all over Scotland, including over 400 at ESMS.
Children were encouraged to take ownership of their reading environment and rather than read at a desk, they created their own cosy reading nooks all over the classroom, which in turn resulted in “Fuzzy Fridays” becoming a regular activity in Primary 6:
“You feel like you are at home, so I read more,” shared one Primary 6 child.
Dr Fenton recently presented a paper on Reading for Pleasure at the Thinking Deeply About Primary Education Conference in London, in which she shared these and many more examples of the reading activities at the Junior School, and their positive impact on both the children and their teachers.
Reading Culture Beyond the Classroom
Books play a big role in the broader school community as well. Ravelston Book Week and World Book Day are highlights of each academic session, with children and teachers dressing up as their favourite book characters and celebrating their shared love of reading through various events, including exciting author visits.
With so many examples of the work being done by our Junior School teachers to promote reading, we’re proud to have it recognised by the Scottish Book Trust.
One of our Primary 5 children describes the impact of the reading culture at Erskine Stewart Melville best:
“I used to think reading was a chore. Now, I think it is calming and awesome.”
Looking Ahead
Gaining Core Accreditation is just the first step in our journey as a Reading School.
As Dr Fenton explains:
“I know our staff are really keen to read to our children. Being part of the Scottish Book Trust’s programme brings together all the great work that our staff already do and really helps promote reading, making it more visible to our children.”
The Junior School is already working towards their Silver Award, and we’re confident we will eventually progress to Gold. Meanwhile, the Senior School is also working towards gaining accreditation, and we look forward to sharing more about the thriving reading culture across Erskine Stewart Melville.
