Staff and students at Saint Paul’s have been delighted by the support offered by BW3’s team of reading mentors who have been visiting the school each week.
The aim of the sessions is to encourage and develop the students’ enjoyment of reading. The mentors, volunteers from local businesses, work with their mentee until they are confident, able readers. The students celebrated their success with a pizza party in the school library.
BW3 reached out to its member businesses in the area to find employees who would like to volunteer, teaming-up with the Shannon Trust for the project, which it says can have a “marked effect” on a young person’s prospects.
Saint Paul’s Literacy Coordinator, Mr Sharrock, said: “We believe that reading is integral to pupils’ understanding and appreciation of the world around them; it is a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share in cultural experiences, and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves.
Research shows that pupils’ literacy and reading skills have a major impact on their futures, and we recognise the importance of children engaging with reading and read regularly; when reading opportunities increase, so does fluency and stamina, which in turn often increases their enjoyment of reading. Therefore, the link between pupils’ motivation to read and reading for pleasure is reciprocal.
We feel incredibly fortunate to be working with BW3 and the reading mentors. All of the students taking part in this initiative thoroughly enjoy the sessions and many have made rapid progress in such a short period of time. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside businesses in our local community, and we would like to thank BW3 and all the reading mentors for the support they give to our readers at St Paul’s.”
“To highlight the importance of reading in our school community and encourage our students to read for pleasure, we tell our students to put aside all distractions and enjoy books,” said Mr Whiteside, Acting Head Teacher at Saint Paul’s. “We are extremely grateful to BW3 and their team of reading mentors, the sessions have been very successful with some students complaining when their reading time was over – we certainly sparked their enthusiasm for reading and books.”
