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School Librarian Of The Year Award 2018

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Emma Suffield, librarian at Saint Wilfrid’s C of E Academy (saintwilfrids.co.uk) Blackburn, has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2018.

This is one of the most significant awards of the children’s book calendar.  The School Library Association – which is a body committed to supporting everyone involved with school libraries, promoting high quality reading and learning opportunities for all – created the School Librarian of the Year Award in 2004, at the suggestion of Aidan Chambers and in response to the need for recognition of the excellent work that is carried out in school libraries every day. Nominees do not need to be members of the SLA, and may be from any phase of education.

Lauren St. John, whose books include The White Giraffe (Orion) and Kat Wolfe Investigates (Macmillan – one of the award’s sponsors) made the presentation at a special ceremony at The Judge’s Court, above Browns in St Martins Lane, earlier today. Just beforehand, St. John had given a brief keynote talk, explaining how she had not had the luxury of a library while growing up in Africa, but had nevertheless devoured books whenever they were on offer, frequently reading the same book many times over. She read everything, from Westerns to Sherlock Holmes, and books that her parents had lying around. At boarding school she read books that were passed from girl to girl, mainly Mills & Boons.

She referred to some research she had read about the benefit of books on the growing mind, in which reading was described as “training in the art of being human”. She also spoke glowingly of an article in The New Yorker, “Growing Up In The Library” by Susan Orlean, who also has a whole book on the subject due out in the UK in January.

St John read directly from the New Yorker piece, in which Orlean remembers her childhood library visits:

Those trips were dreamy, frictionless interludes that promised I would leave richer than I arrived. It wasn’t like going to a store with my mom, which guaranteed a tug-of-war between what I desired and what she was willing to buy me; in the library, I could have anything I wanted. On the way home, I loved having the books stacked on my lap, pressing me under their solid, warm weight, their Mylar covers sticking to my thighs.

In the interval after the four separate video presentations, and before the final winner was announced, I spoke with the Honour Listed librarian from India, Dr Chhavi Jain. The video presentation made it clear that her role is very curricular linked, with an emphasis on information literacy skills, so I wanted to learn more about the reading for pleasure tastes of her students. Although the school is described as ‘International’ the student body is predominantly Indian and she told me that Indian children’s tastes in reading are very much like those of children in this country. They will frequently request new fiction titles and Dr Jain passes their requests to the school management who invariably provide the required funding.

The CBSE – Central Board of Secondary Education – in India apparently makes it mandatory that every school has a properly funded library and librarian. How shameful that the situation in the UK is currently so different. The Award information booklet gave a two page summary of each librarian’s situation. “One of the challenges that X faces at work is that there is no school budget allocation for library stock.” WHAT! One thing this particular primary librarian did have however was a vocal fanbase, including one boy who captured the hearts of the audience with his emphatic and dramatic endorsement of her qualities. She simply had to stay at the school for generations to come, he said, so that his ‘sister and my other descendants’ would benefit from her role.

The winning librarian’s official title is Learning Resources Centre Manager, but Emma Suffield is seen more as a member of the family by many of the 1400 students at Saint Wilfrid’s C of E Academy in a diverse area of Blackburn, thanks to her personalised, thoughtful and supportive approach to engaging all readers across the school – something that came across well in the school’s polished video presentation. Innovative, imaginative practice, frequently going the extra mile, has led to an impressive 450% increase in book borrowing rates since Emma became responsible for the library in 2014. 

Lesley Martin, Chair of the SLA School Librarian of the Year Selection Committee, said: ‘‘It is exciting for the profession to have someone as forward thinking, creative, passionate and professional about school libraries and no doubt with a great career ahead of her. Emma makes a real difference in her school and her community and her contribution to the wider library profession is already making an impact.’’

Noting that the award is a unique and wonderful celebration of the work of school librarians, Alison Tarrant, Chief Executive of the School Library Association, said: “The School Librarian of the Year Award is a brilliant opportunity to showcase the impact that school libraries can make, not just on pupils, but on staff and school culture. Our Honour List this year were all strong contenders and demonstrate the nuance needed when talking about school libraries – no two are the same; they are all reflective of the school around them, and it’s aims and priorities. Last month the launch of the Great School Libraries campaign – a three year campaign spearheaded by SLA, CILIP SLG and CILIP. The campaign has three aims: to secure school library funding; to produce a national framework for school libraries and recognition of school libraries within the Ofsted framework. Our Honour List support this aim and prove that supported school libraries can make a difference.”

The three other school librarians on the Honour List are:

  • Nicki Cleveland at Cannon Park Primary School
  • Dr. Chhavi Jain at Manav Rachna International School, Gurugram, New Delhi
  • Alison Kennedy at St George’s Ascot

 

 

Major Fundraising Campaign to Build CLPE Literacy Library

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Earlier this week the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) launched an ambitious and timely campaign to raise funds aimed at refurbishing their central London headquarters with the creation of a permanent collection of children’s books to be used to support their work.

The announcement of the campaign (made on Monday 15th January) ran in key trade magazines The Bookseller and BookBrunch, which helped get things off to a great start. Louise Johns-Shepherd, CLPE’s CEO, has been interviewed on London Live.

As key champions of children’s literacy, the CLPE hopes that creating a Literacy Library will significantly help it continue to provide top-class training and resources for teachers, as well as providing a creative, engaging and accessible hub to be used across the children’s books industry.

As a charity, CLPE has long been instrumental in providing key support to educationalists through training and materials, and is responsible for the widely recognised Power of Reading and Power of Pictures projects, as well as the acclaimed CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Their literacy centre, rather fittingly a former school near Waterloo station, is used widely for events and meetings by other charities that often don’t have their own in-house facilities.

Everything I’ve learnt today has been something I could use in the classroom to improve the enjoyment that children get from books. Thank you so much. Each time I come to CLPE I leave with a revived interest in teaching. CLPE User

The refurbishment is designed to allow a dedicated and permanent space for a collection of 23,000 children’s books, chosen by the CLPE’s in-house experts, creating a comprehensive collection of titles for all primary ages that can be browsed and read with a view to their use in the classroom. Funds raised will also allow for the space in the centre to be enhanced for events, and as a fully resourced venue for large or smaller meetings.

Organisations and individuals are invited to pledge any amount between £100 and £10,000 in return for  having a bookshelf, bookcase, alcove or collection at the centre dedicated to them. High profile names, including BookTrust, Beanstalk and key authors have already lent their support to the campaign.

The Crowdfunding campaign can be found here, where it is also possible to donate smaller amounts.

Having seen the inspiring work CLPE do to help schools to use drama, poetry and stories in creative ways I fully support their bid for improving the building. It’s so exciting to think of their library being able to display all their 23,000 books, and that it could become a nationally renowned training centre for teachers, librarians and literacy charities.
Julia Donaldson, Children’s author, former Children’s Laureate and CLPE Supporter

Electronic life has wiped out books, claims Jacqueline Wilson

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The writer, who has produced more than 100 books over a 35-year career, said that while children still have huge appetite for reading, thanks in part to encouragement from their schools, adults increasingly appear to prefer their smartphones.

“I find it sad that adults aren’t reading as much,” she told the BBC. “On the train 10 years ago people were reading books – I would love trying to work out what titles they were reading. “Now I’ll be the only person with a book on my lap and everyone else is glued to their smartphones or checking emails. Electronic life has wiped out books.”

via Smartphones have ‘wiped out’ adult reading, Jacqueline Wilson says.

Celebrating Reading for Enjoyment – Findings from our Annual Literacy Survey 2016

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Celebrating Reading for Enjoyment – Findings from our Annual Literacy Survey 2016

Whether or not children and young people enjoy reading has been a focus of recent research and policy, and evidence is now accumulating that shows that reading enjoyment is beneficial not only for reading outcomes but also for wider learning. 

Reading for enjoyment is not only at the heart of our programmes, but it is also a central element of our research activities. This report pulls together what our evidence tells us about reading enjoyment.

Key findings, based on data from 42,406 pupils aged 8 to 18, include:

  • 1 child in 4 in 2016 said that they enjoy reading very much, with another 1 child in 3 saying that they enjoy reading quite a lot. Overall, nearly 6 children in 10 (58.6%) say that they enjoy reading either very much or quite a lot.
  • While enjoyment levels had been rather stable between 2005 and 2012, they have been rising steadily since 2013, and in 2016 we recorded the highest percentage of reading enjoyment levels. Levels in 2016 were 14% higher than they were in 2005.
  • Children who enjoy reading are more likely to do better at reading than their peers who don’t enjoy it. At age 14, children who enjoy reading have an average reading age of 15.3 years, while those who don’t enjoy reading have an average reading age of just 12 years, a difference of 3.3 years.
  • Nearly twice as many children aged 8 to 11 than those aged 14 to 16 said that they enjoy reading (77.6% vs. 43.8%).

Download this file

via Celebrating Reading for Enjoyment – Findings from our Annual Literacy Survey 2016 | National Literacy Trust.

Michael Rosen: Poetry in Primary Schools 2

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Ahead of this morning’s announcement of the shortlist for the 2017 CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) comes this timely blog post by Michael Rosen:

Some teachers have told me that on occasions people who manage schools have told them that they shouldn’t just be letting children read to themselves, and/or they shouldn’t just be reading and enjoying poetry. The teachers need to be doing some specific teaching and the children need to be doing a set task. In this blog, I’m going to try to answer this. I’m going to defend the activity of reading and enjoying poetry in the primary classroom. Just that. No task. This involves me imagining a situation in which a teacher has to justify this in a meeting with someone who is telling that teacher that there is little or no point in simply reading and enjoying poetry. 

via Michael Rosen: Poetry in Primary Schools 2..

What this editor of books read outside her work in 2016 says a lot about why (and how) we read

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Recommended:

This year, as I edited two historical novels, I felt I needed to read more in that genre. As a children’s books editor, new books in this space appear often in my reading lists. Surprisingly, editors hit reading humps too, and for a while no book seems right, none that one can sink into. At those times, I have turned to peers and reviews for recommendations, and tried to figure why certain books are able to pull readers in, what makes them stand out and why should we read what others are reading.

For some reason, in 2016, I decided to keep a record of every book I read. In a long reading life, this is something I have never done. Books have come and gone, and I have only relied on my memory to tell me if I have read one or not. But in this age of record-keeping and sharing, why not for once, see what I have been reading? At the end of the year, this list is also a record of what led me to pick some of these books. What the further purpose of this exercise was, I am not too sure. But I stuck to it diligently, updating the title and author of each book that I completed in a list.

please continue reading via What this editor of books read outside her work in 2016 says a lot about why (and how) we read.

Read On Get On Strategy Released

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Published today [read the strategy in full]:

Every year in England, thousands of children leave primary school without the confidence and fluency in reading that they need. New assessment arrangements introduced in summer 2016 show only 66% of 11-year-olds reading at the expected level.
This problem is reinforcing social and ethnic inequality and holding our economy back. The vital importance of teaching phonics and comprehension in schools needs to be complemented by approaches that help every child to engage with and develop a love of reading.
Read On. Get On. was launched in 2014 by a coalition of charities and education organisations committed to improving reading levels in the UK. The campaign is now at a crossroads.
Therefore, we are proposing a different kind of a strategy and a new type of campaign which builds on the expertise of teachers and the strengths of settings, schools, libraries and the third sector, and which mobilises society.

via Our strategy | National Literacy Trust.

Amazon turns reading into texting in a new kids’ app

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Amazon has a new plan to get kids reading. 

The tech giant on Wednesday launched Amazon Rapids, a reading app aimed at 7-to-12-year-olds. The paid app contains hundreds of stories, all told in dialogue animated to look like text messages.

The interactive app allows readers to swipe back and forth through dialogue, prompting each new message to appear on the screen. Until the reader prompts the next message to appear, the character who speaks next will even look like they’re typing, with the three dots familiar to anyone with iMessage. 

…

The app, available on iOS, Android and Amazon Fire, has “hundreds” of stories and will add “dozens” each month, Robinson said.

The app allows readers to look up words they don’t know and save them to a glossary. It includes a “read to me” feature for the app to read the dialogue out loud.

The stories are written by children’s authors, many of whom have written Amazon-exclusive children’s books in the past. Professional illustrators, many of whom have also worked with Amazon before, draw the stories’ accompanying illustrations.

via Amazon turns reading into texting in a new kids' app.

Michael Morpurgoon reading inaugural Book Trust Annual Lecture

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Michael Morpurgo, speaking at the inaugural Book Trust Annual Lecture

The concern I have about giving this talk – supportive as I am hugely of the aims of this Book Trust “Time to Read” campaign – is that I know, and you know, that I am talking to the essentially like-minded.

We may differ, but even then perhaps only minimally, as to how we achieve what we are all hoping for, seeking and working for: a culture in which to love and cherish books is common to everyone, a society in which we all feel that literature is universally valued and respected, belongs to us all, helps us to grow intellectually and emotionally, helps unite us; a society where homes and schools encourage children to grow up listening to and reading stories, where local libraries are open and free at the point of delivery.

We know, without reminding ourselves endlessly, the obvious and less obvious benefits children can glean from developing a life-long love of reading, the widening and deepening of knowledge and understanding, the ability to empathise, to explore and discover, to be comforted, excited, provoked and challenged, to spur confidence and creativity.

Like many wordsmiths and storymakers, I speak of all this often, rather too often, I fear, at conferences here and there, at literary festivals, at gatherings of like-minded folk, as I am doing this evening.

Our hope, of course, when we do this is that we provoke debate, and that this debate will help to change attitudes, and ultimately contribute to the enriching of children’s lives, and life-chances, through a love of stories. That’s my hope. That’s why I’m here. I think it is why we are all here.

But is this a vain hope? What are we doing this for? What is the point? Who will be listening, except ourselves?

I, like you, can sing the old song, blow the trumpet, bang the drum, for the love of books, the importance of literacy for our children, proclaim it loud. I can bemoan the closing of libraries; the homes where parents don’t read to their children; the schools where stories and poems can still so often be used simply as fodder for teaching literacy to the test.

I could blame successive governments who have all indulged in short-termism in their education policies, to a greater or lesser extent, who corral schools and pressure teachers into teaching literacy fearfully, who insist that measurable outcomes and results are the be-all and end-all of the education process, who often make a chore and a trial out of reading and books, who have succeeded so often only in banishing enjoyment.

But that would be passing the buck. We live in a democracy – just, an imperfect democracy certainly. Indeed, books and literature have played a crucial role over the centuries in creating and preserving our democratic system as well as the freedoms and rights we now so often take for granted; the freedom to speak our mind, to write and read what we will, and our freedom to choose.

We choose our governments. We are all of us in some way responsible both for the successes and failures of our literacy and our society, for they are, as we know, intimately connected. So when it comes to reading and books, if we have failed to engage and enthuse generations of children, especially those millions from less advantageous backgrounds – and most certainly we have failed far too many of them – then for all of us, even here amongst so many who have striven to create a more literate society, it is mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Indeed, I think it could be said that literacy, or the lack of it, helps divide us, helps define and separate those who have from those who have not; those who feel they belong and those who feel they do not, who feel alienated.

The truth is that over the years, indeed over the centuries, reading and literacy amongst our children, in our society, has certainly grown, but sadly it is also true it has not been all-inclusive, as it should have been, far from it. And that has been the great failure on our part.

in full via Read Michael Morpurgo’s beautiful paean to reading, books and the power of education | News.