Success stories
Big Diamond Jubilee Read makes a big impression on pupils at Newham Bridge Primary School
17 Jul 2012
Newham Bridge Primary School is a state primary in a deprived area of Middlesbrough in the North East of England. While their Key Stage 2 results are well above average, many parents of the school’s pupils need support with their own basic literacy skills, and the school has noticed that lots of children are coming into the school with low language skills and a lack of knowledge about stories and books.
Newham Bridge decided to get involved with the Big Diamond Jubilee Read in order to strengthen home-school relationships and to get their pupils to talk more about books and stories. They threw themselves into it, capitalising on the competitive aspect of the Big Diamond Jubilee Read to hook in their reluctant readers, with fantastic results. Literacy Coordinator Helen Ede tells all…
“We wanted to enter into the spirit of the Big Diamond Jubilee Read in a big way, and so we got the whole school involved – all 280 pupils, plus the nursery. Every class had a big wall display with moveable photos of each pupil, so that they could move themselves around the display as they collected their reading miles. We used the “well done” stickers and certificates provided by the National Literacy Trust to reward pupils as they reached the different checkpoint countries, and those who completed the whole challenge were awarded a Diamond Reader certificate in our weekly Celebration Assemblies.
We also added an extra competitive element by running an inter-class competition – every week the class that collectively earned the most reading miles received a mention in our Celebration Assembly (we had a special reading miles podium for first, second and third place)…and got themselves some extra play time as a reward!
The impact of the Big Diamond Jubilee Read has been significant. The competitive aspect has really appealed to our pupils, especially boys, and has got the whole school buzzing about reading. The passports and visual displays provided us with a really useful tool for identifying which pupils were not reading at home, and gave us evidence with which to contact their families to encourage them to read with their child.
The competition has also given us a platform with which to get pupils talking about reading and discussing books and stories. I posted a blog about the Big Diamond Jubilee Read on Bridge Book, our safe pupil-facing social networking site, and before I knew it pupils were commenting on the blog, both from school and from home, to let me know which book they were currently reading and discuss what they thought of it.
The Big Diamond Jubilee Read has impacted on so many pupils at the school, but there are a couple of boys in Year 3 for whom the competition has completely transformed their attitude towards and behaviour around reading. Before the competition these boys didn’t see themselves as readers, they refused to bring their book bag into school and we saw little involvement from their families. However, through the competition, these boys have had a real breakthrough. Their confidence has rocketed, and they are now making voluntary contributions in guided reading sessions. They are bringing their own books in to school and have visited the library for the first time ever. One of these pupils said,
"I completed the journey and felt really proud of myself"
The Big Diamond Jubilee Read was the hook they needed to get into reading, and now they have realised that they actually quite like it!”
