Reading Matters New Website

We are really pleased to have a new website that really promotes and supports all Reading Matters activities. With details of our key services (Reading Mentors, Reading Leaders, Reading Families and Reading Teams) and downloadable resources including Fun Sheets, Case Studies, Research and Information Packs.

Take a look at www.readingmatters.org.uk, and get involved:

• Leave a comment on the blog
• See the latest updates from our Facebook page, please like us! 
• Sign up for the new Email Bulletin 
• Check out the Events Calendar

This blog has been incorporated into the new website, so in future posts will be added there. You may want to update any subscriptions you have set up.

The BFG is 30 - lets have a frobscottle

The BFG cropped up at our recent Volunteer Reading Mentors meeting. One of our smashing Reading Mentors has being using Roald Dahl's book in her reading sessions. The super use of language is working really well with her partner who can identify with the spellings and phrases such as  "human beans" and "snozzcumbers".

Then on the Schools Librarian Association Blog I learn the BFG is 30 years old! On the 13 September you can celebrate his birthday. So plenty of time to start planning some fun. Download the pdf leaflet.

World Book Day 2012

1 week to go before World Book Day 2012, on 1 March. As ever it looks really great;

• The £1 books look cool; get  your tokens ready.
• The Biggest Show on Earth, online festival, includes some amazing authors and illustrators.
• Nominate a Storytelling Superstar.
• Play games, enter a competition or attend an event (including one at the Houses of Parliament).
• There are tons of Resources for schools, libraries, bookshops etc.

Almost too much to take in, have fun!

Prime Minister says "Reading Matters"

David Cameron reads with Divine Obijiaku: from Evening Standard Website

There is a nice article on the Evening Standard website about the Prime Minister's visit to a London school. He was checking out the Get London Reading campaign. It's a very similar model to ours here at Reading Matters; using Reading Volunteers to improve literacy.


To hammer home the point here is a quote

Reading matters for two simple reasons, he told pupils. "If we don't learn to read properly, then everything else in education is a closed book. But above and beyond that, reading is a joy and a pleasure and it is for life."

World Book Night 2012

You may have been involved in World Book Night in 2011, I certainly was and it was great! A rather important due date means I won't be signing up as giver for 2012, but might want to? If so we could help you get the books to our network of volunteer reading mentors, schools and settings.


There are certainly some interesting books on the 2012 list. Although I'd still like to see more titles aimed at a young audience, the US list at least includes The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Sheffield Summer Reading Challenge Volunteer 2011

A few weeks ago we had a celebration event for the Sheffield Volunteers who supported the Summer Reading Challenge in 2011 and their parents. It was a great event. With each of the volunteers presented with a certificate and goodie bag by Dr Sylvia Dunkley, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield.

I have just got this great photo and a wonderful quote from one of the volunteers:

I want to say thanks to you [all] for the ceremony. It was a great and unforgettable experience.

I agree, it was a lovely evening. Everyone was great!

Thanks for Teaching Us

Just spotted this rather wonderful website campaign, Thanks for Teaching Us:

ThanksForTeaching.Us, a 30 day campaign to recognize amazing teachers all over the world. Our schools are in a tough spot right now, and we think there’s no better time to bring the spotlight back on the teachers that make our classrooms thrive.

Dear Great Teachers, ThanksForTeaching.Us from TBD on Vimeo.


The site is pretty inspiring, with beautiful posts from all over the world. Why not check it out and submit you own story, it would be great to get some UK schools represented.

Rugby World Cup 2011 Resources

In my spare time I like to shout at the TV in the hope the England Rugby team might live up to its potential.

With the 2011 Rugby World Cup on the horizon, why not download the National Literacy Trust Rugby World Cup Toolkit. It is aimed at schools, but has lots of great ideas and resources for reading mentors and families. It has been put together by Tom Palmer, who really knows his stuff, check out Scrum!.

Bideford Learning Community Book Relief Training July 2011

Last week I was in Bideford, North Devon, training 30 Volunteer Reading Mentors and School co-ordinators to begin reading sessions in Bideford Primary Schools in September.

We had a wonderful couple of training days full of enthusiasm and ideas, it was an inspiration, as was the Devon landscape.

Organised by the local Book Relief charity and The Bideford Learning Community, and funded by Awards for All and The Bideford Bridge Trust, I know the programme is going to be a huge success. I don't usually make a big deal of the end of training session evaluation forms, but there are some lovely comments from these particular days:

• Excellent course, I feel very confident and very excited about becoming a Reading Mentor
• Very useful and easy to understand. Will be able to use what I have learnt with confidence
• Very useful information, relaxed atmosphere, friendly tutor
• So encouraging, very informative and feel equipped to start reading mentoring
• A great day full of good tips, knowledge and [I am] looking forward to starting
• Encouraging, very informative - ready to put into practice at school.
• Richard was very encouraging and a brilliant course leader, time passed very quickly and I've gained loads of useful skills today, thank you.
• Tutor was very informative and was made to feel comfortable with what I was learning and doing
• I am looking forward to being school co-ordinator for our mentors, very exciting!

ESCAL - Mad Hatters Talk Picnic and Presentation Afternoon

I am a bit late reporting, but 29 June 2011 was Communication Day in Sheffield, part of the National Year of Communication and Sheffield Children's Festival. The highlight was the Mad-Hatters Talk Picnic - Thosands of pupils having fun in the Peace Gardens:

Those are my photos, there is much better coverage at:

• Sheffield Star
• Yorkshire Post
• BBC News

On the same day Reading Matters had a small stand at the Presentation Afternoon for council employees and ESCAL Partners at the Town Hall. It was a really nice event:

Wortley Hall Remembered - 7 July 2011

Some of our partner schools and Fay, one of our Reading Mentors, are involved in a Summer Show of drama, history and music at Wortley Hall on 7 July 2011. Sounds like a great evening out. Download a pdf programme.

Continued Professional Development Opportunity - Supporting Reading Development

one day accredited training course

11 July - Sheffield, Bannerdale Centre

14 July - Huddersfield, Brian Jackson House

An interactive training day for professionals who support children’s literacy:

• Gain an insight into the literacy curriculum
• Understand how children develop reading skills
• Diagnose reading difficulties
• Develop strategies to improve pupils’ reading skills and confidence
• Develop experience and confidence in supporting pupils to become enthusiastic and confident readers
• Analyse reading support practice
• Prepare for NOCN Level 2 accreditation
• Lunch and refreshments provided

Just £195 per person

Please contact 01274 692219 or info@readingmatters.org.uk

Download a poster [pdf] to display on your notice board. 

Book Relief - Community Volunteer Reading Mentors Programme in partnership with the Bideford Learning Community

Reading Matters will be delivering some accredited training and support sessions on 6 and 7 July to prepare Volunteer Reading Mentors to deliver reading sessions in Bideford schools.

It is an exciting new progamme organised by the Book Relief in partnership the Bideford Learning Community.

Full details are available on the Book Relief website. Do take a look, especially if you would like to become a Volunteer Reading Mentor in a Bideford school and really help to improve the reading skills and confidence of young people, and gain some valuable work experience and a national accreditation.

Photos: Doncaster Book Award and Bradford Reading Mentors Meeting

I was involved in a couple of great events last week, the Doncaster Book Award and Reading Matters termly Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting.

Doncaster Book Award

Gareth P Jones' novel The Thornthwaite Inheritance won the 2011 prize at a fabulous ceremony that I played a very small part in, I awarded the Creative Writing Prizes.

The day kicked off with a brilliant dance routine, with books! Lead by Lesley Hurworth, Chair of the Doncaster Book Award, and Reading Matters' Reading Leaders co-ordinator at the Armthorpe School.
Hosted by Dave Cryer, we were then treated to three brilliant performances by Phil Sheppard, The Two Steves and Tommy Donbavand:

Tommy's session, involved two lucky/unlucky candidates being turned into mummies like Cleo from the Scream Street Books:
It was a superb, packed day. I met all sorts of dedicated people, who all love to read!

Reading Matters Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting

Reading Matters termly Volunteer Reading Mentors in Bradford was a little calmer affair, but still thrilling to catch-up with so many people dedicated to developing reading skills.

World Book Night 2011 at Waterstone's in Orchard Square, Sheffield

That's me at Waterstone's in Orchard Square, Sheffield on World Book Night, 5 March 2011. It really was a great evening. The Waterstones' guys really looked after me. Everyone was super friendly. Well, they were when I had explained that my copies of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon were for Reading Matters Reading Mentors, not just up for grabs!

Loads of familar faces turned up from schools and other settings, aplogies to anyone I didn't speak to very much, it was pretty busy for a while. I did sneak a peek at the other attractions:

• Rachel Genn reading from her forthcoming novel The Cure.
  
• Local band Nat Johnson and the Figureheads (very quiet even for a books hop, but cool)
  
• Local authors from the MA Writing course at Sheffield Hallam University read from a their ‘Matter’ anthology (as I was checking this out, I saw one of our very own Reading Mentor, Fay Musselwhite's poem has been chosen by Simon Armitage for a Sheffield Poetry Prize, brilliant)
  

World Book Night was all round a great evening, I am looking forward to what the Reading Mentors and their partners make of The Curious Incident. I almost ended up with more books than I started with! I have registered my interest for 2012, and I'm hoping some more books for young people are included, I'd suggest Holes by Louis Sachar, but what do I know!

World Book Day 2011

Thursday 3 March 2011 is World Book Day 2011. As usual there are a fantastic array of activities and resources to get involved with. I particularly like the look of some of the £1 books available this year; in particular Dr Seuss on the Loose, S.W.I.T.C.H Bug Battle by Ali Sparkes and Traction City by Philip Reeve.

Also new is the Digi-Tale website, with some cool looking gear to be won.

I may have missed it in previous years, but there seems to be a lot more promotion of the Quick Reads programme for older readers. They too have a fine line-up of books for 2011, including Bloody Valentine by James Patterson, Trouble on the Heath by Terry Jones and Tackling Life by Charlie Oatway. Whilst browsing the Quick Reads site, I found a smart looking book Worlds Beyond Words: True Stories About the Power of Literacy, and a lovely video by one of the contributors.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes - Guinness World Record attempt

On 1 March 10.30-11.15, across the country people will be coming together to break the record for the largest number of children, parents and carers performing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’.

In Sheffield where I live, people are assembling in the Peace Gardens in Sheffield City Centre, part of the ESCAL project.

It is happening nationally as part of this years Chatterbox Challenge.

My daughter, Rose, will be there. Unfortunately I won't be. Instead I'll be meeting Reading Matters new Young Embedded Advisor in partnership with Chantry YMCA in Rotherham. It's a pretty exciting project too, but maybe not quite as much fun as a mass 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'!

Reading, Communicating, Mentoring

This week I was at the northern launch of the National Year of Communication - Hello, it was a different audience than I am used to, lots of Speech and Language Therapists and people from Early Years settings such as Children's Centres. There are some good resources on the Hello website if you want more information.

It reminded me about how reading is just once facet of communication, but also what a difference the reading partnerships we help facilitate can make to all aspects of children's lives, a sample quote;

At 11 years old only a fifth of children with significant speech, language and communication needs reach the expected levels for their age in both English and Maths

Another benefit of successful reading partnerships is the supportive relationships they help build. Reading Matters have been working with the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation to really explore this aspect of the reading partnerships.Their Supporting Life's Journeys Campaign is a great way for anyone to sign up to the the cause.

Jeremy Strong's Campaign for Fun

Author Jeremy Strong is looking for the funniest school in the UK and Ireland with his Campaign for Fun.

By being a bit silly you could win all sorts of cool stuff! Mr Strong also has some nice downloadable resources to check out. He has also introduced the Campaign for Fun in an article on The Guardian website. He list all sorts of great books to cheer us all up:

• Fungus the Bogeyman
• Lauren Child's Clarice Bean
• Allen Ahlberg
• Julia Donaldson
• Elephant Elements
• Andy Stanton
• The Wrong Pong
• Louise Rennison

For something a bit more involved but no less fun how about The Reading Zone's picture book competition.

Interplay Leeds Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting 2

I said in my last post about our recent Volunteer Reading Mentors Meeting at Interplay in Leeds, I would share my short presentation. So here it is:

Reading Matters Presentation - Interplay 10-12-09

My overall message was that, despite so many changes, in schools, government and at Reading Matters, the need for us to keep on improving reading skills and changing lives is as great as ever.

In fact, the week after our meeting there was a flurry of news stories about how thousands of boys start secondary school 'barely able to read', the BBC report highlighted some of Reading Matters core areas of work. For example, in Rotherham 14% of 11-year-old boys in state schools did not reach level three in their reading tests this summer, this means they were at the level expected of a seven-year-old.

It is true that 'raw data' from the controversial SATS reading tests will not provide the full story, but headlines like these indicate there are still huge numbers of children and young people in primary and secondary schools that do not have special educational needs but still need extensive support for them to reach their full potential in life.

The next part of my presentation shows that through Reading Matters Reading Mentors, Reading Leaders and other programmes, we do reach these young people with simple, targeted and effective support. In fact in the the 2009-10 academic year we supported 3768 children and young people.

The last 12 months we have won a number of awards and accolades that back this up, including the Yorkshire Forward Creating Better Future Awards 2010 and Business Link Social Enterprise Awards 2009. But even more important to me is the feedback form the schools we work in:

“The Reading Matters scheme not only improves the reading ability of all students involved, it also creates a fantastic reading culture, promoting responsibility and maturity”. Sheffield School Co-ordinator at
Firth Park Community College.

Like all everyone to continue to meet our objectives, Reading Matters is finding new and innovative ways of working and new partners such as the Summer Reading Challenge, Special Schools and Foster Carers. Having said that, we will be drawing the line at canine support.

Happy Christmas everyone.