National school reading scheme championed by EG Foundation
Thousands of pupils across the country will benefit from an enhanced reading provision thanks to support from EG Foundation, which was announced on World Book Day (3 March).
The funding will enable Star Academies to extend the reach and impact of its Star Readers programme – a national reading initiative aimed at nurturing children’s love of reading – across the 31 primary and secondary schools it runs nationally.
As schools across the country celebrate World Book Day, the announcement was met with universal cheer by the 20,000 pupils taught in Star schools. The funding from EG Foundation will support the development of the trust’s primary and secondary reading curricula, alongside a broad range of new reading-led activities across schools and increased investment in books and reading resources.
Pupils at Star schools take part in a series of creative and engaging activities designed to foster and celebrate their love of reading, whilst enhancing their literacy skills and vocabulary. The initiative centres around the Star Readers Challenge which encourages children to read at least 10 books from the recommended reading list for their year group over the course of the academic year.
The Star Readers reading lists represent the very best of classic and contemporary children’s literature and provide pupils with a breadth of challenging and interesting tales. The books have been specially selected to give pupils windows into other people’s worlds, promote discussion and build reading resilience.
Thanks to the support of EG Foundation, schools will be a hive of reading activity as they launch book clubs, run community reading programmes, arrange visits from authors, and facilitate book reviews and writing competitions.
The multi-academy trust also plans to develop new non-fiction editions of its Star Readers lists to encourage pupils to broaden their knowledge and understanding of core curriculum subjects by reading key texts.
The announcement comes as Star schools celebrated World Book Day 2022. The international day, which promotes reading for pleasure, saw schools awash with colourful costumes and daring tales of adventure. Throughout the day, staff and pupils shared their favourite books and authors, and took part in activities to spark a love of reading. Books were brought to life with classrooms filled with colourful displays and much-loved fictional characters, as pupils and staff alike dressed up as their favourite book characters. Schools were brimming with wizardry from Harry Potter, mischief from Matilda and gruesomeness from the Gruffalo, alongside magical much-loved characters from the pages of classic children’s books such as Elma, The Cat in the Hat, and Peter Rabbit.
Enhancing pupils’ literacy skills is a key priority for Star Academies. Star Readers aims to improve pupils’ vocabulary and foster their love of reading. Research has shown that pupils’ fluency in English is essential for academic success and effective spoken and written communication. Through reading widely, pupils gain familiarity with language forms and develop their understanding of different authors’ ideas. Wide reading is one important aspect in pupils’ acquisition of cultural capital, which is defined by Ofsted as ‘the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens.’
Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, Chief Executive of Star Academies, said:
“Research shows that reading high quality texts proficiently and with understanding is essential to children’s academic success. The Star Readers programme has already proved successful in broadening pupils’ reading repertoire across primary and secondary schools.
“EG Foundation’s generous support will help us to take Star Readers to the next level as our schools embed strong reading cultures which support pupils’ development as confident readers and nurture their love of reading. Our aim is to develop a world-class reading curricula in both primary and secondary education that enables every pupil to acquire the cultural capital that will help them to achieve their dreams.”
Mohamed Valli, Foundations & CSR Manager at EG Foundation, said:
“We are pleased to be supporting the Star Readers programme at Star schools across the country. Whilst reading, children can immerse themselves into the lives of fictional characters, experience various emotions and learn about cultures different to their own. Not only will the children have access to classic and contemporary children’s literature, the addition of non-fiction books will help enhance their vocabulary, raise literacy standards, and support academic success.”
Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 4th Mar 2022 | Posted In: Latest News