January 2024 – the benefits of reading and the pros and cons of gaming

Monday January 29th, 2024

Welcome to your first issue of 2024! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break – though it may seem no more than a distant memory now.

We know January can be an important month for students in Y13, many of whom will be applying to start university in October 2024. Anyone applying to Oxford or Cambridge Universities, or for medicine, dentistry or veterinary degree courses, had a mid-October deadline to meet. But everyone else is working towards the 6pm, 31^st January cut off. Do talk to us if you need any help or advice during the last stages, or if you’re worried you won’t meet the end-of-Jan deadline. You still have options…

Stressful, deadline-related news done; you can now relax into the rest of your January update. In this issue, we’ll be exploring more about the benefits of reading (at any age). And we’ll also be considering the benefits (as well as the pitfalls) of a gaming lifestyle.

Enjoy!

Research by the Reading Agency

These intriguing facts about reading come straight from the Reading Agency, a UK charity whose mission is to empower people of all ages to read. They argue that reading not only makes us more aware, informed and better able to learn new skills and communicate our ideas, but it also grows our imagination and our capacity to empathise with and understand other people and cultures. Above all, they say, reading can contribute to our mental health and wellbeing, helping us be happier, successful and more resilient.

Did you know…

• Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education and is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socioeconomic background.
• 16-year-olds who choose to read books for pleasure outside of school are more likely to secure managerial or professional jobs later in life.
• 19% of readers say that reading stops them from feeling lonely.
• Children with reading difficulties are at greater risk of developing mental health problems later in life, including depression, anxiety, behavioural problems, anger and aggression.
• Each week about 1 in 6 adults in the UK are affected by a common mental health disorder. Studies have shown that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations.

Sadly though, last year’s study by the National Literacy Trust found more than half the children and young people surveyed said they did not enjoy reading in their free time. The UK government has been urged to do more to instil a love of reading in children, giving them (as best-selling author Michael Morpurgo puts it) their right to discover the enjoyment of reading.

The Department for Education recently published a new Reading Framework, which highlights the importance of reading to children at a young age (but fear not – it’s never too late to start! Read on to see some recommended reads for your young people who might favour screens over books…)

How many words children could have heard by age 5
(from the Department for Education Reading Framework)

• If never read to, children would still have heard 4,662 words.
• If they’re read to just once or twice a week, this jumps to a massive 63,570 words.
• If they’re read to 3-5 times a week, add at least another 100,000 words – they could have heard 169,520 words in total.
• If they’re read to every day, that’s 296,660 words they could have heard.
• And if they read five books a day – that’ll be a huge 1,483,300 words they’ll have come across by age 5.

As with any research, I immediately find myself wondering how these figures were arrived at, and what they mean in terms of how well or much a child can or wants to read as they grow up. It reminds me of the ‘storyteller’ word-a-day book a primary teacher I know has in her classroom. It lists unusual words with their definitions and how they might be used in sentences. There’s an amusing cartoon picture featuring animal characters acting out the word’s meaning. And then there’s a quote from a book; a list of other words this one is often paired with; some synonyms; and a percentage, which relates to how often the word is used in stories. I can’t get my head round how this percentage has been arrived at – but I love the fact it makes me think. And the kids in her class love it too. (It’s made by Mrs Wordsmith if you’re intrigued as well!)

Anyway, all that aside, I guess the point is that if books, reading and words become part of a child’s routine from a young age, they’re far more likely to stay that way. And there is very likely some brilliant neuroscience that will explain how more neural pathways are created, the more words we hear in our early years. Certainly, Michael Morpurgo firmly believes that the younger a child is introduced to the power of stories, the better chance there is of putting them on an “extraordinary pathway of knowledge, understanding and empathy… to give [them] some idea of what’s out there”, he says in a recent interview with the BBC.

Our favourite children’s books

For nursery and pre-school children, we love Giraffes Can’t Dance and Be Brave Little Penguin by Giles Andreae, for rhythmic, rhyming tales of facing your fears and fulfilling your potential, no matter what others say or do.

For reluctant readers of primary school age, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (complete with its own website: https://thebrilliantworldoftomgates.com/) brings you a series of books that draws more hesitant readers in with humorous stories and doodles and even a spin-off TV show. Football fans might enjoy the combination of challenging reality (Archie Crumb is a young carer) and fantasy (his football hero appears, genie-like, and grants him nine wishes) in The Boy Whose Wishes Came True.

For children aged 11 and up, Patrick Neate’s Small Town Hero achieves a similar blending of reality and fantasy, this time transporting the protagonist from his grief-stricken actuality into his favourite video game.

Maybe gaming isn’t so different from reading?

Talk about a controversial opener! Let me explain…

For as long as forever, stories have blurred the boundaries of reality and make-believe – that’s one of the reasons we enjoy them so much. It’s probably also one of the reasons our children and teenagers enjoy gaming so much.

Because the thing is, video games can foster great qualities in our young people too – curiosity, resilience, patience and problem-solving to name a few.

So, I’m interested in a recent article by the deputy head of an independent school (he’s also their safeguarding lead) urging parents and teachers not to dismiss video games as a waste of time (at best) or damaging (at worst). Instead, he says, let’s try and engage with our young people about their gaming habits, so we can understand and work with them rather than simply telling them to stop. Luke Ramsden’s article in Tes was written in response to the recent children commissioner’s report on the impact of screen time, which contained some valuable – and sometimes downright scary – insights.

One such alarming insight was that the NHS Centre for Internet and Gaming Disorders has treated 745 people, with an average age of 17, in the fewer than five years it’s been open. To counteract this obvious concern, however, were plenty of quotes from children who recognised the dangers of addiction to gaming. But the majority (roughly two in every three consulted) said video games were beneficial to their health and wellbeing and felt frustrated that grown ups refused to see the positives. Many said they’d like to work in the games industry, and there are plenty of careers in this booming sector (we discussed a few, such as the bizarrely named ‘twitch streamer’, in our May ’22 blog).

Something I found really interesting, is that less than half the cohort consulted thought virtual reality games were beneficial to wellbeing. So, there’s a clear distinction being drawn between VR and other game types as far as our young people are concerned. When it came to single-player games, 70% of boys said these were good for wellbeing, and 65% of girls agreed.

It’s so interesting too, that young people cited better equipment and the contents or value of their ‘loot box’ as one of their major concerns. Possibly a far more prosaic and old-fashioned ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ kind of pressure than we might assume as parents. If nothing else, it might reassure us we can help our young people game well and safely, even if we don’t fully ‘get’ gaming. And maybe our young people would like us to try and ‘get it’ a bit more, rather than just rolling our eyes, tutting, or disconnecting the Wi-Fi!

Books for children who love gaming:

Rebel Girls Level Up, by inspiring women in the world of gaming

Camila the gaming star, by Alicia Salazar

Skylanders Universe series, by Onk Beakman

The Sword of Herobrine, by Jim Anotsu

My Magical Life, by Zach King and Beverly Arce

Books for grown-ups wanting to ‘get’ gaming (fiction and non-fiction)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

Taming Gaming, by Andy Robertson

The Gaming Mind and Universal Play, by Alexander Kriss

Storytelling in Video Games, by Amy M Green

Literary Gaming, by Professor Astrid Ensslin

I can’t say I’ve read all these, but I’ve popped the last two in to spark more debate around that controversial comparison between reading and gaming! These books explore the interface between the written word, the art and lure of storytelling and the draw of the digital world. Something to think about on these long, winter nights…

Thanks for reading – we’ll be back in touch in February, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’ve any questions about your child’s education in the meantime.