For the past year we have been encouraging a love of reading and we are really pleased to share that we have been awards a bronze and silver award through the Reading Agency! We have been taking part in the Teachers' reading challenge in partnership with the Open University. Our teachers have been encouraged to read alongside young people to further encourage a love of reading - we have really enjoyed this paired reading, delving into the word of teenage literature, the hidden life of trees and some beautiful Roald Dahl classics (see some of the front covers below).
The next step is our gold award which we are really excited to complete. Here are a few of the things we have been doing to achieve the gold....
Termly Book club - staff and young people pick a book and the team and young people are encouraged to read it before attending a community book club, we share thoughts, snacks and enjoy some excerpts being read aloud.
Book Drive - each young person in Simmons House classroom is encouraged to choose a book when they first join us as one of their welcome exercises, it is purchased for them as part of our reading drive, we began this initiative last November 2022 and have so far bought over 25 books for our young people.
Book Review Blog Posts - we encourage young people to review their chosen book using a book review and young people are offered the opportunity to publish their writing on our classroom blog.
Paired reading - we read aloud to young people who prefer to listen than read as a way to encourage engagement
Patron of Reading Workshops - a professional writer and illustrator visits us once a year to run a workshop around creating and writing stories.
Mobile Library - we are able to request books through Haringey Library Service - who run a mobile library service, delivering us books of our choice every 4 weeks.
Work Experience with the local book shop - we have links with House of Books who have offered volunteering opportunities to our young people, a fantastic way of linking with our local community and fostering our love of books!
Poetry Competitions - we LOVE poetry in Simmons House Classroom and there is amble opportunities to produce work, we have created three anthologies this year and are working on more! One of our students was a finalist in the 6 word story competition, winning with 'she finally returned on a camel'.