What is Look and Read

"Help for backward readers"
- BBC Annual Report 1975

"One of the most popular of primary series"
- BBC Annual Report 1986

"The highly respected series known to generations of school children"
- BBC Primary Catalogue 2000

Look and Read is a termly anthology series made by BBC Education (soon to come under the auspices of the Children's department, but that's another matter...) to be shown in primary schools to help children's reading and writing skills.

Each series is based around a self-contained drama serial, usually about a group of young children investigating a crime, or going on a fantasy adventure or something. In between these "drama bits", there's exposition of the main literary points (like "ch" words or magic E) from a presenter or, latterly, different characters - the "in-between bits."

The series is designed for use with seven-to-nine year olds, to develop reading and writing skills (or alternatively, to "focus on N[ational] L[iterary] S[trategy] learning outcomes for Years 3 and 4").

What makes it so good is not necessarily the learning outcomes, this is a bit of a side effect to the normally very exciting drama bits which kids have been allowed to enjoy in school lesson time for over 30 years. That said, some of the learning songs, performed mainly by Derek Griffiths, are all-time classics remembered for a lifetime.

If you have any information, opinions or better-ways-of-putting-it to add to this page, please mail me, ben@lookandread.fsnet.co.uk