We Are Reading

WE ARE READING

Spring Newsletter 2018

Welcome!

Welcome to the first We Are Reading Newsletter.

We hope that these pages will be filled to the brim with the ideas and endeavours of schools engaged with We Are Read- ing, but we will also have regular updates from key partners in Lancashire. These are set to include contributions by the English Consultancy Team, the Ethnic Minority Achievement team, the Library Service, the Early Years Team and the Virtual School.

The theme of this issue is Getting Everyone Reading. In our Teaching & Learning section, we have a set of articles aimed at doing just that. In our Reading Projects section, we look at what schools have already been doing to bring out everyone's inner reader.

Over 300 schools across all Lancashire districts have signed up to the We Are Reading Pledge. If you have not yet signed up, you can do so by contacting us at WeAreRead- [email protected].

If you have any suggestions for our Mind Map, please What Is It? e-mail us. We Are Reading is a Lanca- Happy Reading! shire-wide campaign aimed at promoting and encouraging reading for purpose and pleasure for all our young people. The campaign will run from Contact & Social Media March 2018 – March 2019.

E-mail: [email protected] In that time we want to encourage schools to share the inno- Facebook: @LancashireWeAreReading vative and exciting ap- Twitter: #LancashireWeAreReading proaches they are taking to support reading. This newsletter Mind Map: mm.tt/1041391553?t=ZtymprHwlH will be published half-termly.

Lancashire We Are Reading Launch Conference

The official launch of Lancashire's Year of Reading was held on Monday 12th March at Preston Marriott Hotel. Proceedings were introduced by Senior Adviser Paul Duckworth and opened by County Councillor Susie Charles, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Schools.

This was a fabulous afternoon where headteachers, teachers and pupils from across Lancashire schools joined together to celebrate their love of reading.

"Reading is fun- it takes "Loved the workshop you to a new world. with Martin Griffin- You learn as you read" gave me lots of ideas to use back in school" "I love to read because it makes you a wiser "Loved the author ses- person; more aware of sion with Jon Mayhew. the world around you It was really fun" allowing your imagina- tion to blossom" "A very inspirational and motivating day. "We loved listening to Input from the English the authors speaking so team gave us lots of passionately about ideas to take our chil- reading. It's been a dren's reading further wonderful day and we forward" are proud to have been involved"

Authors Jon Mayhew (author of the Monster Odyssey series) and Martin Griffin (writer of the best-selling Lifers) began with lively and motivational presentations. They trans- ported the audience, teachers and pupils alike, to other worlds as they shared inspira- tions for their stories.

This was followed by a number of workshops led by these authors along with Steve Smallman (illustrator and author), professional story tellers, the Library Service and Lan- cashire consultants.

The marketplace was a vibrant and exciting area where schools could browse among the stalls and also meet "Miss Spellbound".

It was a wonderful afternoon which left everyone feeling inspired and excited about reading.

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Co-ordinating Schools District Primary School The list of co-ordinating schools is now fi- 1 Bowerham Community Primary nalised and you can find contact de- 2 Northfold Community Primary tails on the last page of this newsletter. 4 Heyhouses Endowed CE Primary 6 Alston Lane Catholic Primary The co-ordinating school will now con- 7 St Catherine's Catholic, Leyland tact all the schools in your district to host 8 Ormskirk Asmall 9 Lancaster Lane Community a meeting where you will need to de- 11 Balderstone St Leonard's cide how you would like to spend the 12 Rosewood Primary money. 13 Coates Lane Primary 14 St James-the-Less Catholic Primary Once your project is decided upon, the co-ordinator will complete a short proforma to let us know how the grant District Secondary School will be spent. If you haven't heard from 1 Central Lancaster High School your co-ordinating school yet, please let 2 awaiting confirmation them know you are interested. We 4 Lytham St Anne's College 6 St Cecilia's RC College need the project proformas back by 7 awaiting confirmation th 25 May, but you may choose to run the 8 Our Lady Queen of Peace project at any point throughout the 9 Parklands High School year. 11 St Augustine's RC High School 12 Sir John Thursby Community We would love to share any of your 13 Pendle Vale College ideas to inspire other schools too. 14 Fearns Community Sports College

Submit an Article

If you have any good practice to share, then please contact WeAreReading@lancashire.gov.uk. Please include the desired Term in the e-mail, as well as captions if you wish to give context to any images* you supply. If you provide a Twitter account name for your school, it will appear with your article. Please note: articles should be limited to 200 words and can include only one image.

Term Theme Deadline Summer 1 Becoming a Reading School 30 April 2018 Summer 2 Summer/Holiday Reads 22 June 2018 Autumn 1 Cross-Curricular Reading 28 September 2018 Autumn 2 Christmas/Winter 23 November 2018 Spring 1 Nature/Eco 31 January 2019 Spring 2 Celebrations 22 March 2019

*by submitting an article with an image, you confirm that you own or have the right to use the image you included, and that you give permission for Lancashire County Council to use this image for the purpose of publishing this newsletter.

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Teaching & Learning

Dear Secondary Schools their ideas and enthusiasm. The regular By Anne Kenworthy We Are Reading update on our newsletter will provide information and links to E-mail: [email protected] support and challenge existing ideas Thank you to all the secondary schools and creativity, including links to outside who have "taken the pledge". We all agencies for parents. There will be a know that we cannot over-emphasise dedicated "reading zone" at the Early the value of reading not only for aca- Years Professional Development centre demic progress but for fostering empa- with the latest news, ideas and re- thy and good mental health. I attended sources. Our summer term open even- a Schools Library Network meeting last ing will celebrate reading with ideas to week and had a taste of just some of encourage children to love books and the exciting things already going on in share stories. schools. This newsletter is a vehicle for LPDS Early Years Teaching and Learning sharing those ideas so don't be shy— Consultants are committed to support- what may seem just a daily routine to ing the We Are Reading initiative. We you will be a gem of an idea to some- will be dedicating part of our website to one else. We are all role models for the project which will be updated half reading so I hope that this project will termly with exciting ideas, activities, spur us on to involve all teachers in wider photographs, new texts to support reading—don't just leave it to English schools in their commitment to getting and the library! our youngest children interested in If I can support you in any way either as books, stories, story-telling and much a district cluster or individual school, do more. To get you started on this journey, get in touch. take time to reflect on your environment to identify where you currently provide Getting Everyone Reading The EYFS Team

Web: lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/earlyyears

Twitter: @lancsearlyyears

EYFS consultants recognise the im- portant role that early years has to play in setting the foundations for life long reading. We are raising the profile of reading, enabling practitioners to share

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5 opportunities for your children to en-  Choose vocabulary carefully gage with books. Look at how your which will be encountered early books are organised and presented for on during reading to build confidence and excitement for chil- easy access to the children, the range dren. of books you offer and how adults them- selves share their love of books with the  Provide the words and/or children. If you have any photographs phrases on cards for children to you want to share with others send them read with a partner and discuss. to us and we will add them to our web-  Encourage word reading using site. Let’s get excited about reading! phonic strategies or use of root words, prefixes and suffixes

Vocabulary Before Reading  Blend words or emphasise sylla- Primary English and Literacy Team bles using clapping or stamping feet. The Primary English and Literacy team have continued their focus on vocabu-  Explore using connections as to where the children have en- lary for reading this year. At the English countered words or phrases be- Subject Leader Network meetings in the fore e.g. other books, films, real autumn term, training was focused on life experiences. developing vocabulary approaches in KS1.  Look at synonyms to aid deeper understanding. Placing an emphasis on vocabulary is  Encourage children to spot the essential to aid children’s understanding vocabulary as an adult models of texts, prior to examining literal and in- reading or when children are ferential questioning. The following strat- reading in a group. egy has been explored in many schools Try it. The children love it! and is proving effective for reading development and enjoyment of texts. Virtual School

Amanda Hatton is very keen for our Chil- dren Looked After to be actively involved in the We Are Reading Scheme and the Virtual School is delighted to be a part of it.

Tracking Visits Virtual School Consultants carry out termly tracking visits to schools. Particu- This approach involves selecting words lar attention will be given to Reading, or phrases from the text which will be ensuring that schools are aware of the modelled via shared reading to a whole Scheme and that their Children Looked class, or for a group of children.

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After are being given every opportunity used with English speaking pupils to rein- to be involved. force these sounds will not help EAL pupils if they do not understand the mean- We also regularly visit our Children's ing of the words. Homes. Each unit has an Education Champion and we hope to extend this to include Reading Champions. We Without knowing what the plan to meet with unit managers to tell words mean, they will not re- them about the Scheme and get them member the words used nor involved. apply them in future situations.

Letterbox Reading Scheme Recently we used the tracking data to Many studies show that, despite gener- identify children who would benefit ally achieving good decoding skills, EAL from additional support with literacy. learners still lag behind their peers in These children received a pack once a reading comprehension and vocabu- month which included reading materi- lary knowledge. This means it is essential als and games. As well as improving lit- to develop EAL learners' vocabulary eracy skills these packs offered opportu- alongside phonics, and interventions or nities for children and carers to bond approaches that focus on explicitly de- over a love of books. veloping vocabulary have been shown to be successful. Use of Pupil Premium Grant Plus Here are some examples of how this As part of our course for EAL learners in funding has been used to promote liter- EYFS, we share some top tips for support- acy. ing EAL pupils learning phonics:

One-to-one sessions with a specialist lit- 1. Use pictures and concrete ob- eracy teacher. jects to build on prior knowledge. 2. Provide repetition of sounds (au- 1. Phonics intervention with HLTA in ral and oral practice). Nurture Group. 3. Pre-teach for the phonics session, 2. Phonics books purchased for use explaining any new vocabulary. at home to compliment class work. 4. Link to speaking and listening as well as reading and writing.

Phonics for EAL Learners 5. Check the learners understand the meaning of new vocabulary. English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners, like most other pupils, will usu- 6. Send home reading books in ally be able to repeat vowel, consonant their first language, too, for par- and digraph sounds correctly during ents to read to develop their vocabulary. phonic sessions, but the lists of words

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Activity: Word Sort the children to sort them according to their own criteria. Each Steph Johnson, Teaching & Learning Consultant group may come up with a dif- This is one of the easiest ways of increas- ferent way of sorting and this ing children’s vocabulary. It can be promotes effective learning dis- cussion used in many ways. 4. Each day, give out the words as 1. Activate prior knowledge by ask- a warm-up/starter activity and ing the children to generate ask the children to sort the words words to describe a setting/char- in a different way from the day acter encouraging use of the before senses 5. This activity can be differentiated 2. Give out the word sort words according to challenge of words (see below) and ask children to and number of words (for organi- sort them into: sational purposes, it can be use-  Words they know and words ful to print the different sets on they do not different coloured card). How- ever, this is also a useful activity  Words according to the dif- for mixed-ability groups. The ac- ferent senses tivity is most effective done in pairs or no more than groups of  Positive words/negative three. words etc.

3. Once the children have had an initial look at the words, a more open-ended approach is to ask

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Reading Projects

Schools all over Lancashire have been schools and community involved in visit- taking part in their own reading initia- ing the benches around Chorley centre tives. Here they describe in their own to bring reading alive and raise the pro- words what they have been doing. file of reading within all our schools.

Book Bench Project Secret Story Teller Claire Greenway, Chorley Heads in Partnership Claire Greenway, Chorley Heads in Partnership

This is our new proposed project to begin summer term. Each of the cluster schools will create their own "story teller" chair with the children—funding would be used to purchase the chair and re- sources to decorate. We would launch with a "big read" day when all schools would invite members of their local community—young and old—to come in and read with the children. This project would enhance reading and also This is the second year we’ve worked raise aspirations. We are all linking up alongside Edge Hill University and Chor- with the "Inspiring Futures" program. We ley Council to create "book benches" are also linking with Ebb & Flo in Chorley. with our children. Each school pur- chases a blank book bench. The schools National Storytelling Week then choose a book theme with their Haslingden St James CE Primary School school and design and paint onto the bench. During April the benches are During National Storytelling Week, each collected and positioned in key areas of class organised daily activities linked to Chorley town centre to form a "book storytelling which led into some beauti- bench" trail. ful writing across school. We started the week by everyone sharing their favour- Children from each school do research ite story or a story from the weekend, in to allow the benches to be QR-scanned some classes we even acted these and then people will be able to read in- out. On Tuesday and Wednesday each formation (created by the school) class listened to a story to re-tell, act out online. and alter accordingly depending on During the Easter holiday we get all our their theme. Some classes interviewed characters and in year 2 they even

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9 painted a scene from their story. On were queuing up as the doors were Thursday we held a coffee morning for opened at 8:20 by staff volunteers. It parents where they could go into class was a treat to see so many mums, dads, with their children and share one of their carers and children enjoying books to- children’s favourite stories with them. gether in one place and even though there were more than 60 families present; all that could be heard was the lovely hum of focused reading. The children and adults chose comfy spots to settle down in armed with croissants, or- ange juice and a great book and as the bell went, it was hard to encourage some adults to leave! We had lots of very positive feedback about the experience and have been asked to hold another breakfast event in the future. It was a very successful event which celebrated both reading and our community and from minimal input created a lot of output.

This was a great success and not only did parents enjoy reading with their children but it also gave parents really useful strategies for helping their children read at home. Finally to finish off the week, we had a very special visit from Sue Allonby who works for The National Storytelling Society and she went into Reading Dens each class and shared some of her fa- Thornton Primary School vourite stories with the children making sure all the children were involved. It January saw the big launch of the We was a thoroughly enjoyable week. Are Reading initiative at Thornton Pri- mary School. Each class has designed The Big Family Read and built their own reading den, ensuring it is a comfortable and tranquil Willow Lane School place to be. In some classes, desig- Willow Lane School held a popular nated We Are Reading time has been Reading Breakfast in the hall before the built into the weekly timetable. On a start of the school day. Keen readers daily basis, children experience: "We

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10 are reading outside", "We are reading to of the special WBD books. As such, we someone else" and "We are reading un- chose to have "superheroes" as our familiar books", to name but a few. theme for WBD and all children have been encouraged to be like superhe- Reading for pleasure has already in- roes and read. creased across the school, but the most noticeable change has been with the Hoping to inspire everyone to get into reluctant readers who are now desper- the spirit, they decorated their super- ate to read! For a group of children with hero and a photograph of their faces additional needs, there has also been a was added. All our "super-readers" can noticeable improvement on their men- now be seen in the school entrance hall tal health and self-esteem, as reading and we’re hoping that this can be a has proven to be a calming strategy for great start to a year of celebrating and them. encouraging everyone to be a reader.

WBD and the start of Lancashire’s We Are Reading campaign have also been used to show the children that reading comes in many formats and that graphic novels and comics can be great reads. The display- including some old Marvel comic front covers- has caused quite a storm and did mean that we had lots of children staring up at the ceiling, looking for their particular su- perhero! We have also got a cameo There is no escape for the parents ei- appearance from one of Marvel’s most ther! Two school Swap Shops are under- famous writers…Stan Lee! way – one for children and one for grown-ups – here unwanted books from Brew, Biscuit & a Book home can be traded in for a preloved Rosewood Primary School, Burnley book. Parents, who love to read, create children who love to read! We are getting everyone reading at Rosewood Primary School in Burnley. It’s been a great start to the exciting We have opened the doors to our reading journey that lies ahead! brand new library every night after school for children and parents to our World Book Day "Brew, biscuit and a book" sessions. They Pool House Community Primary School have been really well attended and a wonderful opportunity to engage chil- World Book Day (WBD) is one of the piv- dren and parents in reading. otal points in the school calendar at Pool House. 2018 sees the first year that a Marvel book had been chosen as one

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Additionally, all of our 14 classes across  Writing equipment, to allow mark school are making the trip to the local making library. As well as visiting the library and  A range of stories including: fa- taking part in a fantastic reading work- miliar stories, favourite authors, in- shop, every child has been given the formation books and children’s opportunity to apply for a Lancashire Li- interest books. brary card to encourage our children to We have also begun the process of hel- read for pleasure outside of school. The icopter stories with the children, creat- children have thoroughly enjoyed their ing their own stories, scribing them and visits and have returned brimming with acting them out. This is something we enthusiasm discussing the books they are excited to continue in the future. As had read. Lee Galda says:

Reading a powerful book can become an event that just might change the world, one reader at a time!

A Matter of Environment Staghills Nursery School

As part of the We Are Reading campaign we have looked at different ways we can get the children at Staghills Nursery School engaged in reading.

We have started by making changes to our environment to encourage children to access reading more. This has in- Book of the Month cluded: St John's CE Primary School, Burscough  Making it cosy and comfy with Our latest initiative is "Book of the Month" throws, sofas and cushions which we launched at Christmas, each  Having soft lighting class receiving a mystery book chosen  Putting homely scenes on the in- by our librarian. teractive whiteboard Each following month, a recently pub-  Audio stories, puppets, props lished, well-regarded book will be chosen by our librarian for one infant class,

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12 one junior class and one member of our children’s love for reading. Our jour- staff. ney began by thinking of guided reading sessions in KS2. We scrapped the Anticipation for the arrival of the Books carousel and adopted whole class of the Month is created by placing post- guided reading. We invited Literacy ers around the school in a countdown Shed creator, Rob Smith, into school to to their delivery. They are presented in model the approach and kick start our gift bags decorated to provide clues to new initiative. With input from staff and the books inside. children, we chose a range of engag- ing yet challenging books to use. Teach- February’s books were: ers differentiate tasks as they would in  The Lumberjack's Beard by Dun- any lesson; we found all children were can Beedie (Year One) gripped and greater progress was being made. We have now moved this  Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure model into Year 2 and are continuing to by Alex T. Smith (Year Three) develop and strengthen our system. We  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely have improved our library by replenish- Fine by Gail Honeyman. ing books through hosting book fairs and we invested into Junior Librarian. Our children are greatly involved and we have a brilliant library team. Previ- ously, we raised the profile of reading through competitions and World Book Day; last year we took some of our children to the local care home to share our love of reading with the residents.

There has been great excitement in school each time a new "Book of the Month" is due!

Guided Reading & Curation Water Primary School, Rossendale

At Water, WE LOVE READING! Book Corridor Over the past year, we have re- Mayfield Primary School, Lytham St Anne's vamped our reading curriculum and library to engage, enthuse and reignite As part of our initiative to get children reading, both here at school and at

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13 home, we have launched our "We love Wart of the Hog to read, too" scheme to get everyone at Peel Park Primary School school involved in raising the profile of reading. One spooky Tuesday evening in Febru- ary, the year 5 and 6 pupils at Peel Park All of our children will have the oppor- Primary School were invited to take part tunity to visit the "We love to read, too" in a very special magical event. They book corridor and borrow a book that dressed up as Harry Potter characters to belongs to either the teachers, TAs or celebrate the anniversary of the publi- additional adults who work in school. cation of JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter Firstly, they have to match the selfie to book. shelfie...

…when that is correct they can borrow the books. Pupils have to complete a book review to be awarded with house points for its content and then the review is placed in our reading corridor for our pupils and staff to read. We are also asking that children look after our books and that they are returned promptly on The scene was set with the Sorting Hat the right day to allow others who might theme tune and a Celebration Wizardry be waiting to receive their copy. Any Speech, performed by the Librarians. late returns, just like in the local library, They each took turns to sit on the sorting will incur a penalty, which would be to chair, which included wearing the fa- lose team points, so children under- mous magical sorting hat. This enabled stand the process used in the county’s pupils to be separated into house libraries as well as giving them some re- groups and let the magic begin. sponsibility in looking after and returning A variety of activities then took place in- on time. cluding:

 Word searches

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 Creation of a magical beast more memorable and meaningful experience. We invested in sets of Pie Cor-  Artist and Actor (Sketch the beast a partner is miming.) bett’s Reading Spine and Page Turners for each year group—a core of modern  Beast fact matching children’s classics especially selected to  Book reading ensure every child experiences the pleasure and challenge of great litera-  Wizard’s Photo booth ture. These were supplemented by the  Quiz great classics, such as The Secret Gar- den and Alice in Wonderland.  Award ceremony The impact on writing has been notable Points were awarded throughout the as the children are consistently drawing evening, and Hufflepuff were the over- on quality models with which they are all winners and received the prestigious increasingly familiar. Daily reading ac- Hogwarts Trophy. tivities are a mixture of practical discus- sion, drama and writing-in-role along- The Greats side the more formal analysis tasks Edenfield CE Primary School which are focused on developing vo- Inspired by the Better Reading Training, cabulary and inference. provided by Lancashire, we are now in We are currently enjoying a second an- our second year of delivering a whole nual Reading Week which focuses on new programme of teaching children the study of one novel in class. In addi- to read in school. After developing our tion parents, grandparents and gover- planning and assessment in line with nors are joining us throughout the week new guidance, our next step was to to share our favourite books and novels. stop using scheme material for guided The week concludes with a celebration reading. assembly—celebrating the children’s As a school, we were passionate about reading achievements and the finest developing the children’s imaginative books that we can find! engagement and making reading a

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An Impossible Tale accumulate 100 hours of reading for Langho St Leonard's CE Primary School pleasure (nursery, reception and Y1 classes includes being read to). Each At Langho St Leonard’s we are having a child has a book mark to write on how very exciting Book Week. Author and many minutes they read each day, the Storyteller Dan Worsley came into minutes will be added together at the school on Monday and shared a whole end of each week and added to each school assembly describing his journey class target. These are displayed in the to become an author. He engaged the hall. We are also collecting photos of whole school and key stage 1 children children reading in comfortable places in storytelling sessions. Children in all and have challenged them to write a classes have been involved in "share a "100 words exactly" book review about story" activities. Lily pads and frogs have their favourite book. Finally, around the been appearing around school all school the children can look for book week and children have been sharing profiles from the staff—these include the book Tuesday by David Weisner in when, what, where and why they read all classes. and a photo of staff reading in comfy or not so comfy places! On World Book Day we will be dressing up as book characters and immersing ourselves in the wonderful worlds that books have to offer.

Library Visits St James', Chorley

The rest of the week will be very exciting Reception class enjoy visits to Chorley li- with a visit from poet Paul Jenkins, some brary: children going to see author Julian Clary, a book swap and lots of vegeta- ble heads dressed up as story book characters. The week will end with a py- jama day and sharing stories with hot chocolate. Reading at St Leonard’s has never been so much fun!

Reading Challenge Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Ingol

At Holy Family we have started our We Are Reading campaign with a variety of activities including a Class Reading Challenge. The aim is for each class to

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Read Aloud! who read at home each day are en- English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, Preston tered into a weekly raffle with one child winning a book each week. Reading at English Martyrs’ is at the heart of all we do. We are an "Every We nurture and foster the approach Child a Reader" school and have run that reading forms the foundations for Reading Recovery since 2010. For the life and our children now have a shared last 3 years have taken part in "Read passion for reading for pleasure. Aloud!" a reading initiative run by the In- stitute of Education; children who have Parents as Readers previously completed Reading Recov- Stoneyholme Community Primary School, Burn- ery invite people in from all walks of life, ley so that they can read to them and This is the second year of our Big Family "show off" their reading skills. Read as part of our whole school Story Telling Week. Parents were invited to school to work with their children for a morning. Rachel Hall told the story and families practised extracts to read in the Green Screen Studio. While this was being filmed, they completed a carousel of activities linked to the book. This is the result. Some of the mums attend our level one ESOL course so it was lovely to see them have the confidence to join in. We were also delighted with the This year we decided to combine its number of dads who were willing to par- launch with the We Are Reading initia- ticipate. tive and invited Paul Duckworth in as our first Read Aloud guest. The children loved reading to him, talking about their reading and books with him. It was a great opportunity to promote our readers and the school’s love and passion for all things reading. We have many other visitors lined up from advisers, members from the Diocese, Governors, TV person- alities, sports stars, a whole raft of people!

Last summer we introduced "unwrap" a book. All children from the whole school

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Pendle Reading Challenge A Primary & Secondary Cluster

Pendle Reading Challenge are already making great strides in promoting a love of reading. A cluster of both secondary and primary schools are working together with the aim of promoting reading for pleasure across Pendle; improving pupil attainment for all children in proudly wore their reading hoodies. Pendle and enabling all Pendle pupils to Several schools mounted colourful book read in line with their chronological age displays with themed backdrops includ- or above. ing Harry Potter and Alice in Wonder- Just one of the many exciting events land. they have organised was the "Dragon's Den" event held in January at the Ace A Universe to Explore Centre in Nelson. Each school elected Bolton-le-Sands Church of England Primary a team of representatives to "pitch" to School "Dragons" from local industry. The re- The children in Year 5 and 6 began the quests were for funding support for a "Reading Around the World" Challenge. range of reading initiatives. It was a Children moved around the world in lively and colourful event with more miles for every 10 minutes read. They than 80 organisations involved. Reading loved the challenge between their Ambassadors from the secondary classmates and were determined to schools marshalled the proceedings read as much as possible. and the junior school representatives

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As many children completed this chal- Shuttleworth lenge, we decided to create the "Uni- With "Drop Everything and Read", AR versal Reading Challenge". Children are and Readathon, they are busy with now reading through space and move wider reading. Extreme reading compe- 10 million miles for 20 minutes reading. tition is making for both lively debate As you can see, lots of our children have and colourful display. read for many hours! St Michael's CE "Lancashire Library Book of the Year" is A Round-up of our Secondary keeping year 9 busy, year 7 and 8 have Schools' Starting Points AR and the school are looking forward to the visit of author Jenny MacLachlan Hameldon for year 7. Library lessons are timetabled and pu- Pendle Vale pils are encouraged to keep a reading DEAR, AR are well established and they log. Pupils read aloud to staff in these are involved in the BBC's "The Big Read", sessions and our library is always busy working their way through the top 100 with quizzes and puzzles. books and have just celebrated World Walton-le-Dale Book Day. Cross-curricular weekly reading chal- Marsden Heights lenges are linked to topics taught and Every lesson has 10 minutes of reading pupils are given quick questions as and pupils are in competition within AR starter activities to check they have to see who can read most words and read the article. Recommended read- become a "Word Millionaire". ing lists are given to pupils and as many as possible are involved in an annual Lostock Hall Academy Readathon. The campaign will be A book-based treasure hunt caused launched in a reading assembly. great excitement and pupils have interviewed staff about their reading Rhyddings choices. The school has its own reading Continuing with DEAR, Readathon, scheme to track pupils' reading, en- reading in form and they will launch the couraging them to read widely across We Are Reading campaign in a special fiction and non-fiction. assembly. Archbishop Temple Unity "Jólabókaflóð", Icelandic for "Christmas Involved in "Lancashire Library Book of Book Flood" was an exciting project the Year"—remember, any school can which took place for the first time this apply to shadow the judging. It is not Christmas. All pupils were encouraged too late to contact the Library Service to to "gift" someone a book—not neces- be involved. The shortlist has just been sarily new. The plan was for everyone to published. They also have a reading open their books on Christmas Eve. group which encourages pupils towards their own creative writing, too.

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Shaftesbury St Augustine's RC A trip to Harry Potter World followed a Paul Jenkins visited. A graphic novels study of the books. club and a weekly book club make Moor Park reading fun here. World Book Day saw classroom doors Bowland decorated as book jackets, whilst AR makes wider reading embedded in teachers read extracts from their fa- the school week. vourite books. All Hallows Baines Year 7 are involved in a "Reading Race", Visiting author Fletcher Moss worked gaining points for their team in ways with year 10 and year 7 creative writing. connected with reading. They tell the AR is in place for all year 7 and 8. class about a book they are reading, their parents sign a reading log and they race someone else to finish a book first. The winners will go to a themed lunchtime party to celebrate. Moorland "Book Swap Day" is when pupils pin a note on a book: 100 words on why you should read it. After a few swaps reviews Mount Carmel are collated and shared to spread the Classroom doors display We Are Read- word. ing notices by teachers and AR is get- Millfield ting under way. "Get Caught Reading": gets you a raffle Central Lancaster ticket, with prizes galore! Keen readers become "millionaires" in Hutton their "country" as their reading is tracked Mad about books in March. Book swap, to help them plot a round-the-world classroom door decoration, DEAR, "Mys- journey. Grandparents are being en- tery Reader", profile of staff competi- couraged to be reading buddies and a tion, "guess book titles in different lan- "Festival of Reading", lasting a whole guages"… all made for a lively month of week, is planned. reading! Cardinal Allen Holy Cross Year 9 reading buddies support year 7 All year 6 are given a copy of Sky pupils. The librarian and TAs are involved Hawk—on starting year 7 all curriculum in guided reading sessions. World Book areas began with some link to the book. Day saw the 100 million minutes of read- On the cross-curricular day the children ing challenge. Skyped the author, tracked ospreys in flight and made bird key rings.

Spring 2018 | ISSUE 1 | WE ARE READING

McKee College reading are just some of the busy read- Form "book boxes", teachers' current ing activities currently in place. reading posted on doors and recommended reading lists given to all years. Fleetwood Weekly reading clubs where year 10 in- troduce readers to younger pupils. Jo- seph Delaney came on World Book Day! Our Lady's Catholic College Pupils enjoy "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover". Pupils select from a range of books with brown paper covers—they select a book by browsing and seeing a description which excites them Ripley St Thomas Read around your subject: reading lists are given to pupils from all curriculum areas and teachers refer to them in lessons. Purple Sticker Club: pupils can re- quest book stock. They get to borrow it first and a purple sticker with their name on shows they recommended it! Blessed Trinity Year 10 reading leaders train and support year 7 readers who meet in small groups at break time or in the morning registration. All Saints RC High Reading clubs for year 7 and 8 meet weekly. Year 10 reading leaders support year 7. Lathom All pupils read in form time, DEAR, Door book covers. In the staff competition, staff present their favourite book in lunchtime library sessions. Corpus Christi RC High Lancashire Library Book of the Year; older reading buddies; AR; form time

WE ARE READING | ISSUE 1 | Spring 2018

Co-ordinating Schools

District Contact Primary School E-mail address 1 Becky King Bowerham Community Primary [email protected] 2 Lucy Avis Northfold Community Primary [email protected] 4 Elizabeth Hodgson Heyhouses Endowed CE Primary [email protected] 6 Katherine Maher Alston Lane Catholic Primary [email protected] 7 Barbara Coulton St Catherine's Catholic, Leyland [email protected] 8 Rebecca Whitfield Ormskirk Asmall [email protected] 9 Joanne Goddard Lancaster Lane Community [email protected] 11 Janet Banks Balderstone St Leonard's [email protected] 12 Nerys Ditchburn-Hughes Rosewood Primary [email protected] 13 Sarah White Coates Lane Primary [email protected] 14 Gary Hall St James-the-Less Catholic Primary [email protected]

District Contact Secondary School E-mail address 1 Amy Newsham Lancaster Central [email protected] 2 awaiting confirmation - - 4 Julie Gillespie Lytham St Anne's College [email protected] 6 Robert Baldwin St Cecilia's RC College [email protected] 7 awaiting confirmation - - 8 Claire Hallwood Our Lady Queen of Peace [email protected] 9 Andy Johnston Parklands High School [email protected] 11 Mike Wright St Augustine's RC High School [email protected] 12 Jody Jackson Sir John Thursby Community [email protected] 13 Liz Brown Pendle Vale College [email protected] 14 Kath Humphries Fearns Community Sports College [email protected]

WE ARE READING | ISSUE 1 | Spring 2018