Literacy news
Children clock up 88,000 hours of reading through the Big Diamond Jubilee Read
18 Jul 2012
Over 8,000 entries have been received for our summer literacy competition, run in partnership with Oxford University Press and supported by our patron, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall. Children from the UK and beyond went on a reading journey, collecting “reading miles” to move around Commonwealth countries on a classroom wall map as they read their chosen books.
Of the thousands of children who completed the Big Diamond Jubilee Read competition, Year 3 pupil Connor from Crestwood Park Primary School in Kingswinford was randomly selected as the ultimate Diamond Reader. Connor wins a book voucher and family day out for himself, as well as £500 worth of books for his school, courtesy of Oxford University Press. Connor’s teacher, Nikki Perry said:
“The children at Crestwood Park have loved taking part in the Diamond Jubilee Reading competition…It has been a wonderful way of promoting reading and they are still asking for their passports to be stamped! It is fantastic that Connor has won because he loves reading and will really appreciate the books he receives but the whole of our school will benefit, not only from the new books but also from the extra motivation it has given to all the children and staff.”
The competition also had a writing element, the Diamond Writer, in which children shared their thoughts about their favourite book with a group of children in Canada, one of the countries on the Big Diamond Jubilee Read journey. This part of the competition received over 1,000 entries, and we were overwhelmed by the passion and enthusiasm displayed by pupils for their favourite reads. The entries were shortlisted by author Gill Lewis, and the winners were chosen by Keely, Matthew, Jessica, Baily, Alana and Alyssa, pupils from Hazel White-St. Francis School in New Brunswick, Canada. Our Canadian judging panel had a great time selecting the winners, and commented:
“These writing pieces were all very well done and were a super read - we even got some book title ideas that we are going to get now from reading these pieces.”
The winner for the primary category is Jak, a Year 5 pupil from Woodplumpton St Anne’s CE Primary School in Preston, with his recommendation of Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. The secondary Diamond Writer winner is Year 7 pupil Alannah from Reepham High School in Norfolk, with her review of Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys. Alannah and Jak both win a book voucher and family day out for themselves, as well as a special visit from author Gill Lewis for their school, and a 12 month PRO account with Radiowaves, the award-winning safe social learning platform that ran a special Diamond Jubilee campaign alongside our competition.
All of our winners will also receive a special winners’ certificate personally signed by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall.
“Thank you to everyone at the National Literacy Trust for keeping on thinking of innovative ways to promote and support the teaching of literacy in schools” Gillian Mascord, Woodplumpton St Anne's CE Primary School
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