South Lanarkshire’s primary and secondary TRG participants, from this year and last, took part an online Celebration Event in May. The event was packed with ideas and inspiration for attendees to use within their schools, thanks to the work of presenting practitioners from both sectors.
Our secondary teachers were excited to hear about the diverse and enriching reading for pleasure cultures being cultivated in primary schools, knowing that, as a result, many more young people will cross the bridge to secondary school loving reading. In turn, our secondary presenters gave excellent practical examples of how to motivate, engage and empower even the most reluctant of readers.
One of our secondary presenters, Jamie Connelly, said ‘too much time is spent looking for evidence of improvement and too little focus is given to creating conditions needed for reading to become an embedded feature of children’s lives’ and we all felt this summarised beautifully the purpose of the TRGs, nationwide. His work, which ‘aimed to shift the power dynamic within his classroom to empower children to discuss books on their terms’, gave excellent practical examples of how to motivate, engage and empower even the most reluctant of readers.
Sonia Thompson, Headteacher/Director of St Matthew’s CE Research School in Birmingham, presented as our guest speaker to close the event.
All in all, an inspiring evening to celebrate the achievements of everyone who has taken part in our TRGs.
