Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit Swaffield School in Wandsworth to help launch Book Trust’s 2016 Read For My School.

This is a competition that aims to get as many children reading as many books as possible this spring term – last year 3,500 schools read over 700,000 books, and this year Book Trust are hoping to hit a target of one million books read.

It’s an incredible target, and I’m delighted that they’re trying to meet it in such an enjoyable, accessible way. I believe that reading is fun, and that there’s no right way to be a reader, or any best sort of book to read. Every reader is different, and I think it’s fantastic that Read For My School celebrates that – there are not only prizes for the pupils who read the most books, but for the most improved readers, and the readers who explore the most new genres and authors.

I had a great time meeting Swaffield’s pupils, who are already impressive readers, and I hope I helped inspire them to do even more reading. Below are some pictures from the launch – as you can see, we all had a lovely morning!

The competition is open now, and will run until the end of term. Good luck to everyone taking part, and thanks again to Book Trust for making me a part of this year’s scheme!