Today’s readers, tomorrow’s leaders

Star Academies has recently launched a series of exciting new reading initiatives to promote the joys and benefits of reading. Pupils will 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 first initiative to be introduced is Star Readers, which sets out a list of recommended and age-appropriate books for all year groups across a number of genres and disciplines. The books have been selected to give pupils windows into other people’s worlds, promote discussion and build reading resilience.

The Star Readers Primary Edition and Star Readers Secondary Edition are the first publications in the Star Readers series. The books represent the very best of classic and contemporary children’s literature and will provide pupils with a breadth of challenging and interesting tales. A Star Readers Subject Edition, providing a list of key texts related to core curriculum subjects, will also be released as part of the initiative.

Pupils will have access to a complete set of recommended books in their school library and will be encouraged to read as many books as possible from their year group’s reading list. To monitor pupils’ progress and development, all pupils will be given a reading record to track their own reading and participation in the Star Readers Challenge. All pupils who read at least 10 books from the recommended reading list for their year group over the course of the academic year will be awarded a Star Readers Challenge certificate to acknowledge their achievement.

To support the roll out of the Star Readers programme, schools will be introducing a number of additional activities to raise the profile of reading, which may include book clubs, community reading programmes, book reviews, visits from authors and story-writing competitions.

Pupils with a passion for reading will be encouraged to become a reading ambassador. As part of this leadership role, pupils will share book reviews and recommendations with their classes; give feedback to teachers about how the school library could be improved; help with reading events across the school; create displays to promote reading and support community reading programmes.

Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, Chief Executive of Star Academies, said:

“Reading enhances pupils’ learning and development and their understanding of the subjects they are studying. Through learning new words and seeing them applied in different contexts, pupils develop a richer and more extensive vocabulary, which in turn has a positive impact on their writing skills. Reading can help us to grow into more well-rounded, empathetic and informed individuals by challenging our perceptions, broadening our horizons and increasing our understanding of society. Reading also gives us access to new ideas and experiences by teaching us about different cultures and traditions from around the world. I hope the Star Readers Challenge will help all of our pupils to discover inspirational and engaging books that pique their curiosity, ignite their imaginations and encourage them to develop a lifelong love of reading.”

Find out more about Star Readers here.

Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 25th Nov 2019 | Posted In:

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