South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 13/07/2016

Pupils from schools across South Gloucestershire celebrated the completion of this year’s Time 4 Reading schools award scheme on Wednesday 6 July.

The celebration event was held at Marlwood School in Alveston and saw pupils joined by the Chair of South Gloucestershire Council Cllr Erica Williams, teachers and education staff.

Pupils enjoyed a fun day of reading related activities including a session with The Etherington Brothers, a writer and illustrator team who have worked on a number of popular comics as well as creating their own. The two brothers visit schools across the UK delivering fun workshops which encourage creative free-thinking through the medium of comic art and storytelling; this was followed with a group picnic.

Cllr Williams said: “Good reading skills are essential, not just to young people, but to everyone in today’s society. Being able to read underpins education and accelerates our chances of success as we go through life. Reading provides pleasure, enjoyment and inspiration as well as helping us to understand the world.

“These awards recognise and expand on the great work our schools are already doing to promote reading and involve the whole community in supporting their local school.”

75 South Gloucestershire schools participated in Time4Reading this year – 65 primary schools and 10 secondaries. Cadbury Heath Primary School, Charborough Road Primary School and Marshfield Primary School all received gold awards, whilst the secondary schools encouraged children to take part in an accelerated reader programme, where to date 15,727 books have been read across the 10 schools.

The Time 4 Reading schools award scheme is open to all primary and secondary schools in South Gloucestershire and aims to promote the enjoyment of reading across school communities. Schools taking part progress through a list of specified goals arranged in to bronze, silver or gold categories. To achieve the awards, children and the wider school community must read a set number of books and organise various activities to promote reading. Goals include encouraging reading at home, reviewing books and films and supporting initiatives such as the Concorde Book Award, with activities including organising book clubs, book swaps, story times and reading workshops.

Participating schools are supplied with Time 4 Reading resources which include posters and specially designed bookmarks to record their progress. Award winning schools receive a certificate for each stage to recognise their achievement.

As part of the awards, South Gloucestershire’s library service has published a list of recommended titles based on the most popular books borrowed from their libraries. There are specially created booklists of recommended reads selected for children and young people of all ages as well as adults.

For more information parents can contact their local South Gloucestershire primary or secondary school or visit www.southglos.gov.uk/time4reading