On your marks! Get set! Read!

The new national schools reading competition, Read for My School, is now under way - with 100,000 books to be won by schools

Up to 200,000 children in Years 5 and 6 in primary schools across England will begin to read for their school this week, as part of the new national schools reading competition.

Read for my School, from The Pearson Foundation and Booktrust, with support from the Department for Education, gets under way in more than 3,000 classrooms and will challenge children to read as many books as they can between now and 22 March to win prizes for themselves and their school.

Aimed at children in years 5 and 6 in its first year, Read for My School is being offered for free to all primary schools in England. The competitive element of the programme is designed to be fun and motivate children of all abilities with a variety of interests to read for pleasure.

To ensure that Read for My School helps to strengthen whole-school reading cultures and supports schools in nurturing long-lasting, positive attitudes to reading, Pearson, Penguin and DK are donating 100,000 books to children and schools who take part in the competition.

•    At least five participating schools will each win 1,000 books via a prize draw.
•    At least 500 schools will each win 100 books via a prize draw.
•    At least 500 children who have read eight books will each win 10 books via a prize draw.
•    All schools who participate in Read for My School will receive a gift of five books.

Details have also been revealed of individual awards in two categories for children who read the most books and for children who write the most interesting responses to questions they are asked on the competition website after completing each book.

Each school will be invited to select one winner in each of these categories, who will be presented with a certificate. Schools can then nominate their winners for regional and national awards. An expert panel of judges will then select one winner for each category in each of the nine regions in England. The 18 regional winners will be invited to attend a regional award ceremony hosted by a high-profile author in a local Waterstones bookshop in May, where they will be presented with their prizes, including a £30 voucher to spend in Waterstones, eight of the competition’s Recommended Reads and 100 books for their school

From these 18 winners, the panel will then select the two outstanding overall winners who will be the guests of honour at a national Read for My School event in London in June, where they will get to meet a number of big-name authors and be presented with their prizes. These include:

• A Family Ticket to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical
• A Family Room at the Park International London
• A set of the 48 Recommended Reads
• 1000 books for their school donated by Pearson, Penguin and DK

Visit the Read for My School website to find out more and register your school to take part if you haven’t already done so

Download the press release