Reading Miles Global Challenge

Read your way…around the world! 

Please note the deadline for entries for this competition has now passed and a prize draw winner has now been chosen. Read about the results.

The kids - they love it! Enthusiasm, desire and competition - and these are kids who don't read, can't buy books and live in areas where there aren't books at home.
Assistant Headteacher

New year – new challenge
The National Literacy Trust and Oxford University Press are kicking off 2012 by launching the Reading Miles Global Challenge, a new competition for all UK schools that will run from 9 January to 16 March 2012.  

What’s it all about?

We know how important parental involvement is in helping children to become confident readers; the 2009 PISA/OECD survey found that 15-year-olds whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher literacy scores than those whose parents read with them infrequently or not at all.

However, it’s not always easy for schools to get families involved in their child’s reading – our recent research found that 22% of children reported that no one at home encourages them to read. The Reading Miles Global Challenge provides a platform for teachers to engage both pupils and parents, using the concept of collecting points for reading together at home…and having fun along the way!

How does it work?
Your pupils are rewarded with 500 reading miles for every 10 minutes spent reading. They will collect these reading miles in their special reading passport on their very own reading world tour - a whopping 33,000 miles (or 11 hours) in total! 

An A3 wall map which charts the Reading Miles Global Challenge route can be downloaded so that pupils can see how far they have “travelled”.

Every pupil who completes their reading journey around the world will be entered into a prize draw to win some fantastic prizes (see the prizes section below for details).

Download wall map
Download reading passport
Download entry form 
Download prize draw rules

Please note: Due to unprecedented demand, the printed wall maps are now out of stock. We apologise to any schools who have missed out, but you can download a copy here.

The “checkpoints”
As 33,000 miles might seem a little overwhelming, we’ve split the challenge into seven journeys, each of which finishes in a “checkpoint city”. The checkpoints are referred to on both the wall map and in the reading passports, and act as interim targets for your pupils.

We’ve produced a downloadable certificate template you can present to pupils when they reach one of the checkpoints, and a downloadable postcard template that pupils can complete when they reach a checkpoint and give to whoever has been reading with them, whether it’s a parent, carer, sibling, grandparent or a member of staff at school.

Download certificate template   
Download postcard template

As children have reached different destinations they have been given their certificates in assembly and this has prompted other children to ask for passports too.
Teacher

The prizes

Each pupil who completes the Reading Miles Global Challenge can be entered into a prize draw to win a whole host of prizes for themselves and their school:

Big book packages: Oxford University Press is giving away £50 worth of books for the winning pupil and a massive £500 worth for their school. The winners can select resources from Oxford Reading Tree Traditional Tales (Key Stage 1) or TreeTops Myths and Legends (Key Stage 2)

A day of storytelling: Fantastic storytellers Snail Tales will visit the school of the winning pupil for an action-packed day of performances of traditional tales from around the world and pupil workshops on storytelling, followed by an after-school INSET session for staff, offering tips and practical exercises for developing your own storytelling skills!

A family day out: The winning pupil will be awarded a family ticket to their closest attraction, worth up to £75.

Supporting resources

Downloadable materials:
Every school can access the suite of Reading Miles Global Challenge materials to help them run the challenge in school:

• Wall map. Download
• Reading Miles passport. Download.
• Certificate template. Download.
• Postcard template. Download.

In addition to this, members of our Schools Network will be able to access exclusive resources around family engagement and using the challenge to make cross-curricular links:

• Ideas for engaging families. Download. 
• Cross-curricular links. Download. 

Useful websites: 

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk
Oxford Owl is a brilliant FREE website built to support parents with their child’s learning. It has 250 FREE eBooks for ages three to 11, including a selection from the Oxford Reading Tree Traditional Tales (Key Stage 1) and Myths and Legends (Key Stage 2) series, which complement the international theme of the Reading Miles Global Challenge. These eBooks are really engaging and will work well both in class and at home.    

Oxford Reading Tree storyteller videos 
Oxford University Press has teamed up with top storytellers Snail Tales (who will be visiting the school of a winning pupil), to produce some great examples of oral storytelling from the Traditional Tales series. If you’re running the challenge with Key Stage 1 pupils, you might like to use videos to hook them in to the stories and get them excited about reading the books themselves!

World Book Day 2012 
World Book Day 2012 falls on 1 March, towards the end of the Reading Miles Global Challenge, and so could be a brilliant time to celebrate the successes of your pupils’ reading journeys. Check out the website to find activities and event ideas, and to find out how you can access special £1 World Book Day books for your pupils.

The nitty gritty – frequently asked questions

Q: What kind of reading counts towards the reading miles? Is it just books
A: We want the Reading Miles Global Challenge to engage even the most reluctant readers. Although a few recommendations have been provided, there is no restriction on the type of reading materials pupils choose. Books, comics, magazines and newspapers (such as First News) can all count towards the Reading Miles journey – and these can be both hard copy or online.

Q: Does all the reading have to take place at home?
A: No. As well as promoting family reading, the Reading Miles Global Challenge is about improving links between home and school, so reading miles can be collected from reading both in school and at home. We recognise that, in some cases, pupils may not have the support at home necessary to complete the challenge, and we don’t want anyone to miss out. In these cases we would advise that the pupil is assigned someone at school, perhaps a teaching assistant, to read with them and verify the reading in their reading passports.

Q: How do the reading passports work?
A: The Reading Miles passport is a way for pupils to record the amount that they are reading and track their progress through the challenge. 10 minutes of reading is the equivalent of 500 reading miles, and every time a pupil reads for a 10 minute block, the person who is supervising their reading, whether it’s a parent/carer, other family member or a member of staff at school, must mark this off in the passport – with a tick, their initials, a sticker, or whatever you choose.

When a pupil has had every 10 minute block marked off in their passport, they have made it “home” and are eligible to be entered into the prize draw.

Q: How do I submit the entries from my school?
A: Just download and complete the competition entry form with details of all the pupils who have completed the challenge, and post or fax back to us for the attention of Susie Musgrove:

Fax: 020 7587 1411
Post: National Literacy Trust, 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL

Q: When is the deadline for submitting entries?
A: All entries must be received by 5pm on Friday 16 March 2012.

Q: How many pupils can enter from each school?
A: There is no maximum – any pupil who completes the challenge can be entered into the prize draw. In an ideal world your whole school will complete the challenge!

Download prize draw rules  
Download entry form

As both Class Teacher and Principal Teacher, I have found it to be an innovative and motivating resource that encourages pupils to undertake reading for enjoyment with set targets in mind. 

Read more feedback from schools.