East End Primary homes in on reading initiative
(L-R) Marilyn Connolly, of LIFE; Roger Priaulx, of Genesis Trust; Minister of Education Tara Rivers; MLA Arden McLean; and Jonathan Hawkes, of Genesis Trust, in East End Primary School’s Home Reading Library.
(CNS): East End Primary School inaugurated their Home Reading Programme last week, a literacy initiative fuelled by the purchase of more than 1,300 fiction and non-fiction books. Jessica Jackson, the school’s literacy coach and the programme’s initiator, stressed the importance of instilling a love of reading in children.
“Daily reading is critical to ongoing literacy development and having access to quality children’s literature, as we now have as part of the Home Reading Programme, will benefit our students immensely,” she said, adding, “Research shows that children who spend time engaged with books have more developed vocabularies, knowledge of spelling, verbal fluency and reading comprehension skills and a wider knowledge of the world around them.”
The programme was made possible through a donation from local company, Genesis Trust, a partnership facilitated by literacy advocacy group, LIFE (Literacy is for Everyone). The firm’s Paul Drake and Roger Priaulx funded the resources to start the initiative, which includes books of varying levels, take-home book bags, and reading rewards. The school has set up a home reading library where students can browse and select a book to take home.
East End principal Allison Wallace expressed the school’s gratitude to the company, saying, “With their help, our students now have the opportunity to engage in daily reading at home, which will support the continual development of their literacy skills and foster a lifelong love for reading and learning.”
Minister of Education Tara Rivers was on hand to help mark the occasion. She read aloud from her favourite book, The Little Engine that Could, and discussed the reasons why she liked it as part of the school’s “Book it Forward” campaign, created by YouTube child phenomenon, Kid President, which encourages readers to tell others about their favourite book, spreading the love of reading.
“It was a pleasure to take part in the East End Primary School’s launch of their Home Reading Programme and having the opportunity to ‘Book It Forward’,” Rivers said. “Having resources available for our students to engage in reading on a daily basis helps to provide a good foundation to build a culture of readers and lifelong learners.
“Establishing Home Reading Programmes at all government schools is also a goal set out in the Cayman Islands’ Teaching and Learning Strategy 2015-2019 that will positively impact student learning. I’m very pleased that East End Primary School has already accomplished this goal.”
Category: Books, Primary School
