How did literacy develop in schools? There is a wide range of literature that presents the importance of developing strong literacy skills to prepare pupils for their future lives. Literacy is not only directly linked to employability, an obvious area to which young people need to bring the skills for effective communication, but also to functioning in everyday life, hence the term “functional literacy” (Gordon , 2007). However, I would also like to further connect high levels of literacy with research regarding literacy as inseparable from social justice and democracy (see Cox, cited in Gordon, 2007). If we are unable to communicate effectively with the world we live in and therefore contribute to decisions that affect our lives and those of the people around us, we will never be able to realize our potential as global citizens. In recent years the importance placed on literacy development in schools has increased significantly. Following a renewed focus on literacy in primary schools caused by the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998a), secondary schools have also felt the impact with the Review of Secondary Education 1993-97 (DfEE, 1998b), a publication which was welcomed in recognition of the developments in literacy that needed to be made by secondary schools (Lewis & Wray, 2000). However, this focus on the importance of developing literacy skills in literature can be linked to the publication of the Bullock Report (Lewis & Wray, 2000), in which the historical context outlines the deficiency in English language proficiency among many adults. Since the publication of the above strategies and reviews, many initiatives to promote literacy in secondary schools have been published in recent years (Logan and Johnston, 2009), an issue which is of particular relevance when considering the above-mentioned literature which discusses the reading habits and children's results. Therefore, the aim of this study is to focus on the development of children's literacy, in particular considering reading for pleasure: that is, the ways in which it is promoted and developed within school, and the attitudes and motivation of children. guys towards this skill. Regarding teachers' and students' views regarding the effectiveness of literacy strategies across the curriculum, the main research methods used in this study are interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups. After analyzing the data I will discuss future recommendations for the school's literacy initiatives and reflect on my professional development in light of the findings.