Charlotte Stenger, 13, a Year 8 pupil at Greenfield Community College is the first million word reader since the school began its innovative Accelerated Reading programme in June.
Charlotte read to the million-word mark in just under four weeks! Recently she was surprised by being presented with the Head Teacher’s Award for being the first millionaire, winning vouchers to further her avid reading habit.
But Charlotte is not alone – every pupil and staff member at Greenfield is part of the huge drive to raise literacy and revive a lifelong love of reading within our community. Several other pupils are nearing the magic million-mark and the aim is to achieve a billion words read by July 2013!
With 20 million words read to date Greenfield think this is an ambitious but achievable target. It’s not just about numbers though, the key objective is to ensure every pupil raises their reading age by two years in the next 6 months.
Headteacher, Mr. David Priestley, has instigated this whole school reading programme as a radical approach to rapidly declining literacy levels amongst 11-16 year olds.
“Every pupil and staff member reads in silence for a minimum of twenty minutes each day during vertical tutor time. It’s fantastic – we are all focussed on the same aims – reading for pleasure and raising our literacy at the same time.” Mr. Priestley went on to comment that in these difficult economic times, with employers and universities having an increasingly large field of applicants to choose from, being a confident, literate individual is an undeniable asset.
If you would like further information about Green-field’s ambitious plans for raising literacy levels please see the literacy site on Greenfield’s Moodle.
