Building whole-school reading communities - National Literacy Trust

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Daily Reader West Thornton Primary School is a reading school 10 Case studies By sharing good practice, we can build on what other schools have learnt and minimise additional workload. Spreading the word about case studies and good ideas offers the chance to learn about what has worked well in one school and develop activities to suit your school. Di Pumphrey, deputy head at West Thornton Primary School in Croydon – Reading Connects primary school of the year 2006/2007 – explains how making reading more visible has had a dramatic effect on the school’s reading culture. When pupils come to school and when parents visit us, we want them to know that we value reading. The importance of making reading for enjoyment visible has been one of the tenets in developing our reading culture. In raising the profile of West Thornton as a reading school, we find that it is often the simplest things, and those that have very little financial demand, that have the most impact. For example, the Get Caught Reading campaign has been an easy, fun way of highlighting readers all over the school. All staff, including support, kitchen and office staff and the caretaker, feature on posters around the school with information about their current read. We also invite pupils to recommend a book to popular characters, whose posters are all over the school. The toilet doors even have popular book characters painted on them! We are confident that our children and their families recognise that West Thornton is a reading school; that reading is not confined to book corners but at the heart of our curriculum. We have lit a spark amongst the children, and are working to ensure that it keeps burning. Practical ideas for raising the profile of reading in school Extreme reading Bridge the reading gap during the holidays and challenge pupils to have themselves photographed reading in the most exotic or bizarre locations. Make a display of the images in the school corridors or foyer. Babysitting boxes Create babysitting boxes that can be lent out to pupils to encourage them to read with their younger siblings. Fill the boxes with any unwanted children’s books that families may have at home. Also include tips for pupils on how to share rhymes and stories. ICT Use ICT to help promote reading – set homepages to author websites and get pupils to design bookrelated screensavers to spread the word about recommended reads. Name classrooms after authors or poets Name each of the classrooms after well-known children’s authors or poets. Encourage pupils to explore their particular nominated author/poet and make displays and act out their stories in assembly. Real men read… Use photographs of boys, male members of staff and men from the local community reading, with quotes about what they read and why. Use these materials to create a ‘real men read’ poster or calendar campaign. www.readingconnects.org.uk
Question: How do I involve the boys in my school when developing a reading culture? Answer: Run a Reading Champions project. 11 Involving boys and men in creating a reading culture www.readingchampions.org.uk
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Building whole-school reading communities - National Literacy Trust

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