Connect and collaborate with teachers and pupils in a different country to foster a love of reading, celebrate diverse literature and engage young readers. Grow your reading community by sharing your favourite books and stories with your partner school and develop a shared passion and enthusiasm for reading.
Join us for the next round. From December 2025 to March 2026, our Reading for pleasure guided partnership links 25 schools in the UK and 25 schools in Morocco.
On this project, we will introduce you to your partner school and guide you as you start to work together. The programme will kick off with a face-to-face meeting of teachers in Marrakech, where you will have the opportunity to meet your partner schoolteacher in person and take part in sessions led by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and British Council. This will be followed by a series of online webinars delivered by the British Council Schools Connect team, designed to help you get to know each other and support you as you develop your project together. As you work with your Moroccan partner school, we’ll be here in the background with guidance, professional development, and help with any questions you may have. At the end of the project, we’ll provide advice, tools, and resources to help you sustain your partnership into the future.
The Reading for pleasure classroom resource will be the basis of the project, providing you with a range of suggested curriculum-related activities which you and your pupils can develop along with pupils in your partner school.
There will also be an opportunity for some shared language work across English, French and Arabic.
The guided partnership programme provides funding for one teacher to attend an in-person, two-day partner matching and planning workshop in Morocco in early December, including a contribution to supply cover.
Be inspired: watch the video of the Reading for pleasure partnership between schools in the UK and Jamaica.
This project is aimed at Secondary pupils aged 11-14 (KS3 or S1-S3).
We welcome applications from schools across the UK that serve economically disadvantaged communities. Priority will be given to schools that haven’t had an international partnership before. We’re also keen to hear from schools that can clearly explain their motivation for taking part, as this will be an important part of the selection process.
Deadline: 24/10/2025
Unable to take part in this round? UK schools, register your interest for future rounds
Schools outside the UK can register on our Partner Finder database.
“Reading is an exercise in empathy, an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”
Malorie Blackman, British writer and children's laureate from 2013-2015
We were thrilled to welcome poet and children's laureate for Wales, Alex Wharton who led our live Reading for pleasure celebration event in November 2024. Schools from all over the world joined us as part of International Education Week to celebrate the joy of reading. You can take part in the interactive workshop with your class via the video recording of the event. Listen to Alex as he reads his poems and use your imaginations to draw the animals that feature in his poems. Alex also tells us what reading means to him and the importance of reading for his writing and in his life. Heads up: get your paper and your colouring pencils ready!
This workshop is aimed at primary level, ages 7 to 11.