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Teddy bears are being fostered by children as a way of encouraging reading for pleasure.

Pupils at Magna Carta Primary Academy are fostering teddies with the promise of reading to them at home for 15 minutes every evening.

The idea is for children to get in the habit of reading purely for the enjoyment of it.

Toni Hollows, social, emotional and mental health teacher, said: “Part of our school development plan this year is to promote the love of reading, so this fits very well with that.

“The children love the teddies already. The hope is this will show the children by reading to the teddy they are looking after that reading and being read to feels good. We hope that will then encourage them to read to their siblings and parents and enjoy being read to.”

The focus on reading has seen storytime introduced into the structure of the school day and will also see various reading areas set up around the school, as well as teachers encouraged to be seen to read their own books when pupils are reading theirs.

Headteacher Marios Solomonides said: “I think teachers feel they should be doing something with the children at all times, but being seen to be enjoying reading for pleasure is a very important thing to share with our young people.

“Storytime is one of the most, if not the most, key subjects that risks being knocked off the timetable in schools as often there is not the time to fit it in. But, it is so important and so we have now fixed it into our timetable, usually at the end of every day. We have also introduced story assembly every week where I read to the children.

“This is the year of reading at Magna Carta. Once you can read fluently, you can access everything. It is also vital for good mental health.”