Practical ideas

Below are some practical ideas for involving members of the community in your Reading Champions project.

• The Champions read posters feature famous sporting stars reading in relaxed environments. Why not make your own Champions Read posters featuring volunteer Reading Champions, like local sports personalities, the postman or the caretaker.

• Take pictures of community members reading and transform these images into reading calendars which can go up in every classroom.

• Feature volunteer Reading Champions in a get caught reading poster campaign. You could cover the faces of the Reading Champions with a book to generate interest and create a guessing game of who is reading what. If you are working with younger children it might help to leave discreet clues as to what the mystery individual’s job is.

• If you have a work experience week, ask students to get a picture of somebody reading in the work place or keep a record of the sorts of things people read at work and why. Alternatively you could ask the students to think of all the things that they had to read in order to do their work experience job e.g. health and safety information or instructions manuals.

• Hold a community reading day or afternoon to tie in with World Book Day or Children’s Book Week. Invite parents and members of the community that are known to the children. Plan book and reading-themed events and activities. Publicise the day around school and send letters home.

• Look for a local storyteller or author to come to and take part in a reading event. Download a short guide to inviting authors, storytellers and illustrators into your setting or school (pdf).

• Hold a reading assembly. Ask community members in to talk about why they need reading for their jobs and what they enjoy reading in their spare time. You could create a Jeremy Kyle-style play with book characters that have disagreements, such as the Twits and involve the community member in the planning.

• Include a reading element to all the trips that are already take place out of school, e.g. to the fire station or the swimming pool. Ask the fireman or pool attendant to explain why reading is important to their job or talk about what they like reading before the start or at the end of the session. If there us time for a short story during the session this could also be good.

• If you haven’t already done so, establish links with your local library. For more information on involving your local library click here.

• Once you have established links with members of the community, remember to get back in touch and ask if they would be willing to be involved with the school in future. They may be willing to be part of a buddy reading scheme. Also, remember to aim high, many mayors or heads of children’s services will try to give up time to be involved in reading events in schools, and there’s no harm in asking!