Reading Leads CPD Programme 2025-26
Our Reading Leads Programme is available to all subscribing schools as part of your subscription to ELS. You can register here to take part.
Celebrating National Poetry Day
September 2025, 3.45pm – 4.30pm
As Thursday 2nd October is National Poetry Day, we’re kicking off the 2025-26 Reading Leads Programme with a celebration of poetry. We’ve rounded up some tools and resources to help you inspire pupils to share and enjoy poetry all year round.
We’ll also be launching Reading Champions, ELS’ brand new KS2 book award during this session, so you’ll be the first to find out which books are on the shortlist!
Non-fiction November
Thursday 21st November 2025, 3.45pm – 4.30pm
National non-fiction November is a celebration of all things factual, so our focus for this month will be engaging reluctant readers through non-fiction. With a whole plethora of books to choose from, we’ll highlight some of our favourites before casting a spotlight on some exciting upcoming releases.
World Book Day, Carnegie Shadowing and Networking
Tuesday 20th January 2026, 1.30pm – 4.00pm
Join us at ELS for an afternoon filled with opportunities to network with other Reading Leads from around the area and share World Book Day ideas and activities to try at your school.
We’ll also be joined by the 2024-25 Chair of Carnegie Judges and SLA School Librarian of the Year, Ros Harding to talk about the Carnegie Shadowing scheme and how it can help pupils to discover all kinds of new children’s books, sparking a love of books and reading.
Author Talk
Thursday 19th March 2026, 3.45pm – 4.30pm
Details TBC
Sharing Bedtime Stories
Tuesday 19th May, 3.45- 4.30pm
We’ll help you to share the magic of shared reading across your school, by helping you to build a bank of online stories that can be accessed by parents and their children in the home. We’ll be joined by the Bookstart Coordinator for Cheshire West, Frances Lennon, who will talk through some of her favourite books for sharing with young children, as well as some top tips for reading aloud.
Book Clubs and the Summer Reading Challenge
Thursday 9th July 2026, 3.45-4.30pm
For the final session of 2025-26, we’ll be provide you with all the information you need to set up and run Book Clubs at your school. We’ll also be joined by colleagues from public libraries to talk about the 2026 Summer Reading Challenge and how can encourage to keep your pupils reading all summer long.
At the end of each session, we’ll do a round up of some of the latest new book releases to watch out for.