I must tell you about Valentine’s Day.

Not that I’m a great fan of what has become yet another money spinner for the greetings card industry, although in the dark days of February we all need something to cheer ourselves up.

What I want to say is that February 14th, 2013 at Marden turned out to be a happy and memorable occasion, thanks to Alison Abbott, Hailey Eastlake,the school cabinet and, as it turned out, lots of other people.

So what happened?

Well, you’ll be surprised to learn that I’m not writing about Valentines Day because I was inundated with cards. I did try a joke in assembly about a line of post office vans outside my house but no one cracked a smile.

Although, I could tell you about the tree of love which appeared in the LRC bearing a crop of heart shaped messages, declaring undying devotion to various members of the school. I could also mention that the deli area of the cafe was transformed into a restaurant (with waiter service) serving romantic lunches for two with appropriate live musical accompaniment.

I loved all of this, of course, because all schools need regular injections of fun. (And yes, I really mean it.)

But what really impressed me on the day was a very simple idea which somehow carried a lot of meaning.

Alison and Hailey invited all the staff to choose their favourite quotation about love and display it on huge heart shaped paper on their classroom doors or in reception. This meant that the school was suddenly filled with great words about the most important human emotion. Some were funny, some could move you to tears and they were everywhere.

Anyway, I thought it was great. But I was also struck by how easily these quotes came to the minds of the staff. It made me think about how they themselves had been given such a love of language and I wondered about the role of their own teachers in communicating this to them.

And then I thought of the massive responsibility educators have for passing on the genius of our many great writers and for encouraging an enjoyment of reading. Not that I expect teenagers to be devouring Tolstoy and Milton – unless they want to, of course. I’m not a literary snob, but my primary school gave me an insatiable appetite for books which I expect to last me all my days. And that’s a vital duty which all schools still have, even though it gets lost in the drive for exam results.

So I want to announce a new policy.

It’s called On Every Desk A Book and we’re going to pilot it with year 7. At present all Marden students must bring to lessons their handbook, pen , pencil and ruler. Very soon we’re going to add one further item – a book of their choosing. This will mean that they can catch up with some reading at times like when the teacher is setting up the start if a lesson or when they’re packing up. Some school fund money has been allocated to providing a lot of new books for the LRC to lend so we’re not expecting pupils to buy their own,although they are welcome to bring in their own texts from home. No doubt some will choose to use Kindles or I-PADS to read books electronically. We’ll publish the policy on this website very soon and also announce a start date.

I think that On Every Desk A Book could help us become a community of readers where reading for pleasure boosts literacy for learning and is seen as – here comes that word again – FUN.

Speaking of which, any ideas for Valentines Day 2014?