Those that know me know that I am excitable. ADHD even - give me wild energetic jazz whilst fell running or a problem to solve and something to make (preferably requiring power tools) and I am in my element. But even as a generally excitable and energetic person, I have rarely been as excitable or energised as I am right now about ESA Reads and the imminent opening of our new and improved library, and all the other associated activities.

ESA Reads is our new programme of creative and critical reading. What is that? And how is it different from any other normal school based reading initiative? I’m so glad you asked.

In my last blog, I talked a lot about the importance of story and, as a creative media and production arts specialist for TV, film and Theatre, story is a BIG deal. Story contains the concept, the meaning, the heart of the production. Stephen Fry goes as far as to say that to read and write stories is ultimately human. It is exploration and communication and connection. So making and finding meaning, creative interpretation and empathy are utterly fundamental to ESA's identity and that is READING. Reading is an active verb - there is a difference between watching a film and READING it. There’s a difference between seeing an artwork and READING it. Sure sometimes we just need to consume information but that’s not the same as READING a great book and imagining, wondering and feeling.

As well as being a school about wonder and the imagination, ESA is also the creative academy for the culture industry. Our industry does not only want technically capable crew, they also want thinkers, interpreters and creatives. People who can respond to scripts and screenplays. People who can accurately research context and character. Frankly, they want clever, well read and culturally curious people. Reading is essential. A quick survey of young people today shows that reading ability is reducing, this is deeply worrying. Fake news is on the increase and students talk to me openly about the difficulty they find in sourcing reliable information about their world. The diminishment of confident reading is also terribly concerning for our creative culture. Reading is not simply about understanding and comprehension, it is also about inference and deduction and beauty and human connection.

That is why at ESA, we include watching films, TV and theatre as reading. Similarly all forms of textual interpretation including listening to music, researching and analysing art are a form of 'reading' but all of it requires confident multimedia literacy. All of that cultural magic, wonder and reverie starts with reading and loving good stories and writing - in all their forms. Reading, like all skills, requires practice and exercise and we must always watch out for that misleading and errant idea that books are old media and we don’t need to read books anymore… ugh! what utter bilge.

ESA has a deep commitment to character development and the wellbeing of young people. This is another part of our fundamental identity. As well as gifted, creative professionals, we are trying to support our young people to become safe, confident, curious, happy, resilient and reflective contributors to our shared futures. With that in mind, you may be as fascinated as I was by a 2018 research study from University College London which found that:

Children who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged
Children with above expected reading skills are three times more likely to have high levels of mental wellbeing than their peers with below expected reading skills

It’s rather amazing to look at happiness and life chances in relation to literacy. A capable reader is more likely to have friends, a job they actually want, good mental and emotional health and higher levels of happiness and safety.

So ESA Reads is about trying to create a community culture together that values reading. As a dyslexic, ADHD learner, I found reading very challenging at school. Indeed, I was probably in my twenties before I realised that there was an academic in me desperate to get out! Had I not had people around me and within my community who modelled and encouraged me to read, I may never have developed a love for story and literature which has enriched my life so much. I would not have this incredible job or have worked successfully in theatre and media production. Thanks mum and dad who modelled story telling and active reading and interpretation and even read stories to me well into my teenage. (we didn’t have ‘Audible’ when I was a kid so my mum and dad were the audio book).

I do hope this blog post has gone someway to explaining the energy and excitement I have about ESA Reads and conveying the commitment I have to developing an active READING community here at ESA so that we can benefit from the improved student achievement, employability, wellbeing, personal growth, creative flourishing and cultural health that comes from reading in all its forms. Reading is, in many ways, a synonym for learning - it is essentially how we engage with our world. As one of my all time favourite authors said:

“Reading makes all the difference... It's the difference between just trying to keep alive, and having something to live for”. John Wyndham

A manifesto for reading at ESA