At Longcroft School, the importance of reading is being embraced by a new group of Reading Buddies, who are part of a pilot scheme to encourage reading for fun. Earlier in June, the Year 9 Buddies launched with an event for pupils from St Mary’s Primary School.
Hannah Reilly, English teacher, co-developed the project at Longcroft. She said:
“A lot of great work is carried out in primaries to make youngsters enthusiastic readers. Longcroft values reading as we appreciate that it is a life skill, essential to developing the tools to access not only the curriculum, but also a successful future.
“The purpose of this project was to invite Year 6 pupils from St Mary’s School to come into Longcroft and meet with older students who have a love of books, to show them that reading is both fun and informative for all ages. In addition, it gives students the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the libraries several months before they start attending Longcroft.”
With two libraries and almost 19,000 titles in stock, Longcroft is a haven for book lovers, with something to suit every taste and interest.
Longcroft’s Senior Librarian, Debbie Marshall, explained:
“From the latest in youth fiction to the classics of literature, our libraries provide a wealth of resources for students, in any genre. Alongside an expansive range of fiction, to encourage reading for pleasure, the libraries hold vast amounts of non-fiction to support each curriculum area within the school – excellent materials to help with homework and revision.”
The Year 6 St Mary’s pupils chose books and then the Reading Buddies read with them, which proved to be a resounding success.
Ellie Jackson (10) loved the library, saying: “It was interesting because there are lots of kinds of books.”
Daniel Lower (10) described it as “mind-blowing!”
Brandon Clayton (11) was also impressed by the range of choice: “It’s big and has a whole bunch of books to choose from. I think it’s exciting.”
In addition to enhancing a love of reading, the Reading Buddies project will also prove important in terms of the whole transition process from primary to secondary school.
Oliver Evans, Year 6 teacher from St Mary’s, said: “This was an excellent opportunity for Year 6 to get a feel of what it will be like to move to secondary school, in September.”
Mrs Reilly stated:
“By working collaboratively with primary schools in this way we hope that we not only help to make the transition process run smoothly, as the pupils will be getting to know the school before coming here on the first day of term, but also create awareness that there are friendly places like our libraries in which they can find a thousand adventures or facts, all through the pages of a good book.”
