Reading and Libraries

Helping children improve and enjoy their reading is a vital part of what we do at Swot Shop in Harrow. We know that developing good reading skills, early on, gives children the greatest boost to all aspects of their school work.

It seems that every month we read about children in the UK leaving primary and secondary school without being able to read properly. Yet, reading is fundamental to our lives – from road signs and product instructions to realising one’s potential academically and career-wise. Not being able to read well can be dangerous and life limiting.

Poor reading skills can cause problems early on in a child’s life; for example, if a seven year old isn’t reading well, they will struggle with their maths problem solving because they won’t understand the questions. Then they will have difficulty advancing in maths.

For this reason, every child attending Swot Shop tuition becomes a member of the library. We offer a very extensive range of fiction that we know 5-12 year olds enjoy such as J K Rowling, Francesca Simon, Roald Dhal, Eva Ibbotson and Dick King Smith.

Children don’t necessarily have a reading ability that matches their age – some are more advanced, some a bit behind so when they first start at Swot Shop, each child has his/her reading tested by the teacher so we know at which level they should start. We continue to listen to younger children read in class until they reach a certain standard after which time they borrow books from the library. Each book is categorised according to a level of difficulty and we monitor each child’s reading habits to ensure they are reading appropriately and frequently.