Once upon a time, there was a science teacher called Bill Wilkinson.

Bill loved reading, and he wanted to pass this passion on to his form group of 25 secondary school boys.

Huzzah! He was in luck. His school introduced a mandatory 20-minute silent reading time to take place once a week during tutor time. To begin with, this filled him with joy - as the kids read, he read. A lovely, peaceful 20 minutes amid the madness of the school day.

And yet, he quickly noticed a problem...

“They borrowed a different book each week, opening it at a random page,” Bill writes.

“Some didn’t even turn a single page. I couldn’t understand how they wouldn’t be grabbing this opportunity. Can you tell I was a naive NQT?” he asked. (Errrr yes, Bill, yes we can.)

But not to be deterred, he tried a whole host of methods to enthuse his pupils about reading. From book reviews to audiobooks, nothing got the boys engaged.

Until, that is, he sought inspiration from his primary school colleagues.

He - in traditional, story-time carpet fashion - simply read aloud to them. A different chapter each week, from all sorts of books about science, history and sport.

And the result? The students were captivated. They even asked questions like: “What happens next?”, “Who wrote that?”, “Why did that happen?”.

What’s the moral of the story? Reading can be for everyone. (Or always listen to primary teachers. Whichever you prefer).