National Year of Reading 2026: Go All In
Happy New Year, and welcome back to MR Tutor’s first blog post of 2026. I hope the start of the year has been kind to you. For me, returning to work in January always carries a sense of optimism, especially when there’s a national moment like the National Year of Reading 2026 to rally around.
This year, the UK has declared 2026 the National Year of Reading: a campaign designed to help more people rediscover the joy, meaning, and culture of reading. Branded Go All In, the initiative is led by the Department for Education and delivered by a coalition of literacy partners, with support from organisations including the National Literacy Trust, The Reading Agency, BookTrust, World Book Day, and Queen’s Reading Room, among others. Its aim is to address the sharp decline in reading for pleasure and to make reading relevant across homes, schools, workplaces, and communities.
Go All In isn’t about guilt or obligation; it’s about meeting people where they are and showing that reading isn’t a separate world but is embedded in culture, passions, and everyday life. The core message is simple: if you’re into something, whether that’s football, film, science, baking, crafts or history, reading can take you deeper into it.
Why I’m Proud to Pledge
As a tutor and educator, I’ve seen both the challenges and tremendous opportunities that reading presents. That is why MR Tutor has pledged significant support to this national movement. Here is what we have committed to:
Pledge 1: Targeted Reading Support
Structured one-to-one and small-group reading tuition for ages 5–14, prioritising decoding, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension using evidence-informed approaches, including systematic phonics where appropriate.
Pledge 2: Supporting Families to Read at Home
Providing parents and carers with clear, practical advice on book selection, reading routines, questioning for comprehension, and alignment with school reading schemes.
Pledge 3: Promoting Reading for Pleasure
Encouraging children’s engagement with high-quality fiction and non-fiction matched to interests and reading level, with regular discussion and author recommendations to make reading meaningful and enjoyable.
Pledge 4: Re-engaging Reluctant and Disengaged Readers
Working specifically with children who are reluctant readers or disengaged, including those with additional support needs, with short, achievable reading goals and personalised texts to rebuild confidence.
Pledge 5: Strengthening Reading Across the Curriculum
Helping pupils apply reading skills in science, history and geography by teaching subject-specific vocabulary and strategies for extracting key ideas from informational texts.
Pledge 6: Professional Advocacy for Evidence-Informed Reading Practice
Advocating for research-based reading instruction and sharing insights with parents and educators about the foundational importance of phonics, fluency and language comprehension.
These pledges reflect what I know to be true from years of classroom experience and tutoring: reading is not just a skill to be taught; it is a gateway to learning, confidence, connection, and lifelong curiosity.
What Reading Means to Me
Growing up, reading was a constant friend. To this day, if I have a moment to spare, I love to put my head in a book. While I aim for an hour a day, ten minutes a day can significantly improve a child’s reading outcomes. It doesn’t need to be long; it just needs to be regular.
In my time as a teacher and tutor, I have seen firsthand why reading matters:
Children who read seem more settled, with a constructive low-tech boredom cure at hand.
They educate themselves beyond the classroom.
They become more skilled communicators, with expanded vocabulary and empathy for experiences different from their own.
Books expand imagination and offer a form of “slow entertainment” that counters the instant gratification of screens.
Books can be affordable and sustainable – from libraries or second-hand, and passed down through generations.
Almost all modern workplaces involve reading, making literacy a lifelong advantage.
Reading together builds shared family pleasure and connection.
One of my favourite teaching moments is reading aloud to a class, using voices, pausing to explore vocabulary, feeling the rhythm of Julia Donaldson's rhymes, and getting lost in the music of language. This simple act can spark enchantment and curiosity far beyond the text.
This week, I was reading a Dylan Thomas poem with a nine-year-old who had struggled with comprehension earlier in the year. Watching that child not just access but understand and enjoy the text reaffirmed why this work matters. I also witness the transformation that phonological awareness can bring, opening the door to confidence, imagination, and self-expression.
My tutoring focuses on both confidence and achievement, and progress is tracked through professional assessment and thoughtful judgment on next steps.
What’s Coming in 2026
This year, MR Tutor plans to Go All In with a series of activities:
Extra-curricular reading clubs for children
Free support for parents on how to help reading progress at home
Collaborations with local bookshops and authors
Reading-focused SATs preparation sessions
Support sessions for parents who want to help their children with SATs reading
All this complements our SATs booster sessions, more on those later in the year.
What I’ve Been Reading
Over Christmas and New Year:
The Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachman. A haunting reminder of the cost of ignorance and the power of reading history.
Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth. Pulpy, well-paced action and a palate cleanser.
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. As sharply satirical and powerful as ever.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (full-cast audiobook). A brilliant production that brings childhood magic to life; top performances from Hugh Laurie and Mark Addy as Dumbledore and Hagrid.
What I’m reading now:
Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari. A thoughtful continuation of themes from Homo Deus. Harari’s early discussion of AI resonates even more in today’s ever-changing world.
Reading is not just an academic skill; it is a human one, connecting us to ideas, to each other, and to ourselves. This National Year of Reading is a chance for all of us to re-engage, share, and cultivate that power.
Let’s Go All In.
Find out more at: https://goallin.org.uk