Empathy Reads is a reading initiative we are developing at Oasis Academy Woodview to enable our young readers to broaden and deepen their understanding of compassion, consideration and kindness. Stories capture the lived experience of humans – these stories capture the beauty, the struggle and the hope of what it means to be human.

In July 2024 the children of OA Woodview participated in Empathy Lab’s Empathy Week – we focused on the story of Felix After the Rain, published by TinyOwl. The children were encouraged to reflect on Felix’s suitcase and the range and heaviness of his feelings and emotions. During this week, we also created our very own Empathy Bookcase - here are some of the pupil reflections captured as part of Empathy Month, when exploring stories we used to create our Empathy Bookcase:

This year’s theme for Empathy Lab 2025 is to ‘Jump into someone else’s story’ – as part of our work to continue to develop the children’s understanding of the importance and power of Empathy, we are developing our Empathy Reads collection by focusing on a specific, exploratory question each half term which links to the Protected Characteristics:

Empathy is an enabler for connection, understanding and standing up against discrimination and prejudice. It is rooted in the habit of consideration, nurtured by the hope that as humans we will continue to strive to connect, understand and ultimately care for each other.