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Red Kite Learning Trust

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Reading at HGS

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Our aim is for all students to develop a life-long passion for reading and we have a culture where reading is enjoyed and celebrated. 

Reading is a core skill which not only helps to improve spelling, increase vocabulary and written skills but also stimulates the imagination and challenges beliefs and perspectives. Reading for pleasure boosts brain and memory function, reduces stress, promotes relaxation and improves sleep; this is why reading regularly is so important.

All students have access to a vibrant and inspiring library, where fiction and non-fiction texts can be borrowed. Whether these texts are complementary to their wider curricular studies or are simply being read for pleasure, our library has something for every reader.

The library can be accessed by all students before and after school and during every morning break and lunch times. Students in Year 7 and 8 also experience one library lesson per fortnight, in which they are able to browse the library, listen to motivating author talks and book recommendations and participate in engaging reading activities. 

To achieve excellence in reading, we actively promote reading through form time and via home learning. We celebrate our annual Harrogate Grammar School Reading Week and participate in many national activities and competitions.

Suggested Texts

Looking for books to read to support your reading in school.  Click on the links below to access suggest texts:

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11 - also suitable for students in Year 9)



Recommended Reading

To support students and parents, we regularly share reading recommendations.  Our most recent recommended reads are listed below.  To access our recommended reading lists from previous months click on the grey box below.


February 2026 - Lovestruck

Love

Spring Term 2026

Key Stage 3 - to follow

Northern Soul

Northern Soul - Phil Earle

From award-winning author Phil Earle comes the hilariously agonising account of one teenage boy’s disastrous attempts to win the heart of the cool new girl at school.

Marv’s fourteen and his life is simple.

There’s football. And his best mate, Jimmy. Perfect. Nothing else matters until a new girl at school called Carly crashes into his life.

For Marv, it’s love at first sight, his emotions flipped upside down, as he knows a girl like Carly will never notice him. He needs help – lots of it – but when it miraculously arrives in the shape of a musical idol from the past, the path to Carly’s heart proves anything but easy …

 First love is unforgettable, and poor Marv is about to learn this the hard way – him, and his northern soul …

Key Stage 3 & 4

The summer i turned pretty

Every year Isabel spends a perfect summer at her favourite place in the world - the Fisher family's beach house.

It has everything a girl could want: a swimming pool, a private stretch of sandy beach... and two (very cute) brothers: Unavailable, aloof Conrad - who she's been in love with forever. Friendly, relaxed Jeremiah- the only one who's ever really paid her any attention. But this year something is different. This year, the boys seem to really notice Isabel for the first time.

It's going to be an amazing summer - and one she'll never forget . . .

Key Stage 4

The dagger and the flame

In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love…

In Fantome, Shade-magic is a deadly commodity controlled by two enemy guilds: the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins.

On the night of her mother’s murder, 18-year-old Seraphine runs for her life.

Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before…

Key Stage 4 & 5

Fake skating

From the no. 1 international bestselling author of Better than the Movies, childhood sweethearts reunite in a hockey-loving town where romance is about to heat up the ice.

From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theatres, Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids.

Until Dani moved away. Years later, Dani is back in Minnesota and exited to reconnect with the nerdy and comforting Alec.

But teenage Alec is NOTHING like the boy she remembers.

He's the hockey STAR in a town where hockey players are worshipped as gods – and he loves it.

When one thing leads to another and Dani and Alec find themselves thrown together and playing the role of boyfriend and girlfriend, “complicated” becomes an understatement.

Simon versus

Love, Victor is now a major TV series on Dinsey+, set in the world of the hit film Love, Simon.

Straight people should have to come out too. And the more awkward it is, the better. Simon Spier is sixteen and trying to work out who he is - and what he's looking for.

But when one of his emails to the very distracting Blue falls into the wrong hands, things get all kinds of complicated. Because, for Simon, falling for Blue is a big deal ... It's a holy freaking huge awesome deal.

Do you ship it

When Cerys’ best friend and secret crush Jake moves to a new college, she realises she’s running out of time to take their relationship from platonic to romantic. She’ll do anything to get out of Jake’s friendzone, even if that means diving into the huge fantasy fandom he loves so much.

But when Jake introduces Cerys to his shiny new friend Max, who goes to all the conventions and loves a costume, she realises she’ll need to do a lot more to grab Jake’s attention than just read a few fanfics.

Can Cerys convince Jake they should become the new couple to ship? Or will he see straight through her cosplay?

Wuthering heights

Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord.

There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him.

As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

 

New Arrivals in the LRC

One shot_new lRC African_new LRC NewLRC Hail_new LRC Ghost boys_new LRC Rebel and the rose_New LRC ADHD_newLRC

Harrogate Grammar School is part of Red Kite Learning Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 7523507, registered office address: Red Kite Office, Pannal Ash Road, Harrogate, HG2 9PH

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