The Junior National Reading Championships 2026

This morning, four of our very own Year 6 superstars were selected to represent Southill in The Junior National Reading Championships, an online national quiz designed to put even the most knowledgeable bookworms to the ultimate test!

Our fabulous four were carefully selected based on their impressive reading point scores and the wonderfully diverse range of books they have devoured. The aim? To combine their literary knowledge, pool their reading expertise and give Southill the strongest possible chance of climbing that leaderboard!

The children faced SIX challenging rounds, each designed to test a different aspect of their reading knowledge:

Round 1: Opening and Closing Lines

Round 2: Animals

Round 3: Heroes and Heroines

Round 4: Dingbats

Round 5: Fantasy and Reality

Round 6: Watch This Now

Now, when I say the questions were difficult, I really do mean DIFFICULT! These were certainly not your average book quiz questions! To make matters even more challenging, our Year 6 readers were competing against older pupils from Years 7 and 8, as well as students from colleges. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end!

But did that faze our fantastic four? Not one bit!

Armed with their impressive literary knowledge, determination and some excellent teamwork, the children tackled each round with confidence and enthusiasm.

And the final result?

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE…

SOUTHILL FINISHED 4TH OUT OF 17 TEAMS!

Yes, you read that correctly! Our incredible Year 6 readers finished in FOURTH PLACE, narrowly missing out on a podium finish and, unbelievably, ending up just FOUR POINTS BEHIND FIRST PLACE!

What an absolutely PHENOMENAL achievement!

To compete against children considerably older than themselves and finish so close to the very top of the leaderboard is nothing short of remarkable. It speaks volumes about their love of reading, the breadth of books they have explored and the knowledge they have accumulated along the way.

I cannot begin to express just how proud I am of these four children. Not simply because of where they finished, although fourth place is certainly something worth shouting from the rooftops, but because of the way they represented our school. They demonstrated fantastic teamwork, maturity, resilience and a genuine passion for books. They were an absolute credit to Southill, and I hope they are feeling every bit as proud of themselves as I am of them!

A HUGE thank you to Shelley for supervising the children throughout the competition and ensuring all of their answers were submitted for the online quiz. Your support was very much appreciated!

Today was a wonderful reminder that reading really can take you places. In this case, it took four Southill superstars to within touching distance of the top spot in a national competition!

Four readers. Seventeen teams. Fourth place. Just four points from first.

Southill, you have every reason to be proud!