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Our Reading Bears
Every year, we welcome a new member of our reading bear family to the children to help promote a love of reading. Below are details of how our family of bears have grown over the years and how they are awarded to the children once they reach their home reading milestones.
2021/2022
WILBAR: We're Inspiring a Love of Books And Reading
WILBAR was the school’s first reading mascot for the academic year 2021-2022 and his name stood for We’re Inspiring a Love of Books And Reading. His job was to help children engage with reading and promote a love of books – mission complete! Children read outside of school, had their parents record a signature in their reading record (one read per day) and this accumulated until they achieved certain milestones. Children were awarded certificates for 25, 50 and 75 reads to keep them motivated along the way until they reached the ultimate milestone: 100 reads, which awarded you your WILBAR bear and a very special certificate that you received stating that upon accepting your WILBAR bear, you were pledging that you will read to him every day.
The children loved WILBAR and he quickly became the face of a school that loves reading!
WILBAR was so popular that every child worked incredibly hard to be awarded their very own bear. As a school that loves to continue to motivate all children with their reading, we needed to decide on what was next and that’s exactly what happened, although the decision came from our reading ambassadors. Our children needed a new target to work toward – enter ERIN!
2022/2023
Erin: Enjoying Reading Inspires Novelists
ERIN is acronym which stands for Enjoying Reading Inspires Novelists. This name was created by Beth in Year 6, who won the school’s competition for that year when we challenged all children as to who could come up with the best name for WILBAR’s successor. ERIN takes on the same role as WILBAR did the previous year whereby all children were working toward earning their very own bear. Our goal is to introduce a new bear each year so that children can accumulate a family of reading bears to commemorate their time at Aylesford and celebrate their dedication for reading.
In the year 2022/23, once children earned their ERIN bear, they became part of a special club, where they took part in exclusive competitions. Special ‘Golden Ticket’ prizes related to ERIN could also be found randomly inserted into a wide range of books from our school library. Additionally, ERIN class totals were shared in celebration assembly, and the individual names that were called for earning their ERIN bears, and were added to a photo gallery for all to see! ERIN took pride of place in school during lessons as these stayed on children’s desks during reading lessons or during times within the day allocated for reading for pleasure.
The popularity of our reading bears continued to grow as did our bear family. In September 2024 we welcomed BASIL to our school.
2023/2024
Basil: Books and Stories Inspire Learners
ERIN and WILBAR’s son (BASIL) became our reading bear in September 2023 and continued to encourage daily reading within our school community. BASIL arrived with such enthusiasm for reading that he brought with him a new 250 reads badge to go onto the 150 reads t-shirt.
2024/2025
FRED: For Reading Every Day
FRED continued to inspire reading every day and continued the tradition of a t-shirt for 150 reads and a 250 reads badge to attach to the t-shirt. There was also a series of certificates to celebrate the children’s reading milestones.
2025/2026
BELLA: Books Encourage Legendary Learning Adventures
The latest member of our reading bear family is BELLA – named by a child in Year 3. BELLA became our new reading mascot in September 2025 and was soon inspiring young readers to read every day at home.
Parents continue to hear their child read every day at home and record this in their reading record. These are added up each week, and certificates, bears, t shirts and badges are awarded in our Friday Celebration Assembly.
BELLA is so iconic that she has her own display in the library.
