![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/school-book-reading.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re physically present but mentally absent,\u201d according to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, in an essay released as part of her early years education campaign, as she warns that an overload of smartphones and online tablets among our children is creating an \u201cepidemic of disconnection\u201d that disrupts family life.<\/p>\n
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Bookworms: pupils at Chestnut Park Primary are enjoying a new reading curriculum<\/p>\n
And one Croydon primary is working hard to avoid such disconnections by encouraging its pupils to pick up a book instead of staring at a screen, while instilling in its pupils a lifelong love of reading, which is spreading to parents, too.<\/p>\n
Chestnut Park Primary School in West Croydon is running something called the CUSP programme, which highlights engaging works. Parents have also been going into the school for workshops to learn more about it.<\/p>\n
CUSP focuses on a core literature of high-quality texts with vocabulary instruction and a deep comprehension strategy to create progressive and consistent reading across the primary years.<\/p>\n
Young readers are offered an extensive range of both fiction and non-fiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children will be supported to develop fluency and language,\u201d Suzie Jones, the school\u2019s assitant headteacher, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also invited parents into workshops so they understand the programme and can see how it will benefit their children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The system was introduced in the last academic year and parents have been encouraged to attend year group sessions at the school this month. Over the course of a week they had the opportunity to learn more about the CUSP system and how to best support their children at home to ensure continuity of practice.<\/p>\n
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