READING NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 12 Spring 2025
Welcome to our first edition of the St Cuthbert’s Reading Newsletter of 2025. In this issue, we will update you on how we have promoted and celebrated reading this half term. With half term finally upon us, what better time to pick up a book with which to relax? Our theme this half term is all about empathy and our recommendations link to this theme.
“Imaginative Empathy” In the penultimate week of this half term, Mr Willis and Ms Black led assemblies on the importance of reading for Years 7 - 11. The assemblies laid importance on the role books have on developing, what Pope Francis describes as, “imaginative empathy”. In a letter from last summer, the Pope writes of the importance of “seeing through the eyes of others.” Reading helps us to to develop this empathy, as we connect with fictional characters and how they respond to their fictional situations. The assembly drew links between the Pope’s message and the message delivered by Dua Lipa at the 2022 Booker Prize award ceremony. During her speech, Dua Lipa posited that “Good writing has the power to make people feel seen and heard;” that books help people to “connect;” and help us to “love and to be loved in return.” The important message is that books help us to connect in a world that can sometimes feel divided. When we truly listen to others and see the world through their eyes, we grow stronger together. And this ability to empathise is nurtured and developed through our reading of books.
Reading festival! Why only spend one day celebrating reading, when we can take the whole week? The first week back after half term, we will host our very first St Cuthbert’s Reading Festival! Instead of just marking World Book Day on 6th March, we will be celebrating all week. From author visits and Book Bistros, to treasure hunts and escape rooms, make sure you get involved with all the reading activities we have planned for you.