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Students read over 64 Millions words

Year 7 and 8 Accelerated Readers have read over 64 million words since the start of the Academic Year.

Year 7 and 8 Accelerated Readers have read over 64 million words since the start of the Academic Year.

The library runs lots of short, medium and long-term incentives throughout the year to try and encourage students to read more. For the long-term challenge students are required to read 1 million words throughout the school year.

Head Librarian Miss Amy McKay said ‘We use different countries to tailor the word count to the students’ different abilities. Each country requires students to read a different number of words to join the Millionaires club.’

Once student have completed the relevant word count they become part of the millionaires club and are treated to celebrations throughout the year.

Amy said ‘Before Christmas we held a Party for the students. Next term we are taking them to a World Book Day celebration in Coventry where they will have the opportunity to meet three-times world champion athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, Comedian and Novelist Julian Clarey, American Comic Book Artist Stephen Butler and Author of the Geek Girl book series, Holly Smale. 

‘The girls are really into her books. I mentioned the trip in the library the other morning and they were all saying how much they love her and needed to get reading.’

Year 7 and 8 students have currently read 64,440,934 words since September. The Academy has made Accelerated Reading compulsory for Students in Year 7 and 8.

Amy said ‘Students visit the library once a fortnight during English and have the opportunity to choose new books to read and take a quiz on books they have completed. The expectation is that as part of their independent study they will read a minimum of half an hour a week in their own time.

‘We have been doing Accelerated Readers for a while now and in general it’s doing really well so we decided to revamp it in March introducing the Millionaires club. March to July was our test period to see how it worked and the reception was more than we could have ever imagined so we have continued with it. The club has been really successful and we have lots of millionaires already, and another dozen are within 1,000 words of getting into the club. 

‘Our most recent millionaire this year is Ethan. He has worked really hard and was very determined to join the club.’