Here at Juniors, we are big fans of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE). Mrs Burt, our Head of KS2 English, has introduced their programme across the school and the girls are really enjoying the high quality texts used.

Part of the appeal for us as a school is the way the CLPE chimes with our values, so for example issues such as sustainability and diversity are reflected in the book choices. With the GDST’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and real change, we at Blackheath High School are very much part of that drive with Mrs Chandler-Thompson chairing the Undivided committee which leads all our schools on this initiative.

At Juniors, Ms Daly, our Assistant Head and Mrs Cannell in her capacity as teacher in charge of the Library, have been auditing our book provision and have realised that we need to address the deficit between our community and how it is reflected in what our girls see and read. We are grateful to the parents who have recommended much-loved titles which address this gap; now with the help of the BHSA we will be hugely extending the range of reading matter on offer at Juniors to put things right.

It was sobering yesterday to read in CLPE’s report into representation in children’s books. They are eight times as likely to feature animal main characters as BAME people and that just 5% of children’s books have black, Asian or minority ethnic protagonists – a small improvement from 1% in 2017.

With such poor representation, it is essential that we as a school seek out the best on offer and make it available so that all the girls can see themselves in the books they read.