Enjoying Reading Case Studies

Partnership in action

This section offers practical case studies which show how schools and libraries work together to support children and young people’s reading and the curriculum.  Click on any case study, below, to find out more...

Families

• Family literacy and early learning in Taunton... (pdf, 49kb)
  Children’s centre in Taunton, Somerset , works with the library service to prepare very young children and their families for a lifetime of book-sharing.
• Brent Families learn English together... (pdf, 43kb)
  Brent Libraries and Brent Adult and Community Education Service are helping parents and carers of children under five with English as a second language learn English alongside their pre-school children. While the adults gain confidence both in speaking English and in talking to, reading to and sharing activities with their children, the children enjoy interacting together and prepare for school.
• Stories from the Web traveller project in Hertfordshire... (pdf, 45kb)
  Traveller children in Hertfordshire enjoy an enhanced sense of creativity and self-esteem and have formed a connection with the library service after taking part in a unique literacy, storytelling and ICT project using the online reading resource Stories from the Web. Traveller families also benefit from adult education opportunities.

Primary schools

• School based reading group in Stockton...  (pdf, 43kb)
  Chatterbooks group running in a single primary school for four years results in strong working relationship between the community librarian and the school and ensures that the children are keen readers when they arrive at secondary school.
• Chatterbooks network in North Tyneside... (pdf, 43kb)
  North Tyneside Libraries sets up a network of Chatterbooks reading groups in nine primary schools, supports literacy and citizenship in the primary curriculum, encourages reading for pleasure, fosters social skills and promotes public library services to children, families and schools.
• Creative Partnerships in South Tyneside... (pdf, 45kb)
  South Tyneside Libraries works with four schools on a Creative Reading project to build information handling and research skills. It supports primary curriculum areas including Art and design, Citizenship, Design and technology, Drama, Modern foreign languages and Science.
• Tameside reading quiz... (pdf, 44kb)
  In a highly popular primary school quiz, the public library service visits thirty-two schools to test the knowledge of Year 5s and promote reading and libraries. The quiz has nearly doubled in size within three years, as part of the Tameside Children’s Book Festival.
• Sefton, Years 5, 6 and 7 Chatterbooks network... (pdf, 49kb)
  Sefton Library Service is moving towards its goal of a Chatterbooks group in every library to support literacy and citizenship in the primary curriculum. It encourages reading for pleasure, fosters social skills and promotes public library services to children, families and schools.
• History comes alive for year 5 in Wiltshire (Word, 221kb) 
  When children discover for themselves, using a wide range of sources to collect evidence with a ‘hands-on’ approach.

Secondary schools & young people

• Kingston Young Cultural Creators boys project...  (pdf, 45kb)
  A mystery adventure novel set in Ancient Egypt inspires Year 7 boys to acquire the learning, thinking and emotional skills they need for secondary school in a cross-curricular English, History and Art project set up by Young Cultural Creators, that brings together a library, school, museum and an author.
• Summer Reading Challenge in Brent... (pdf, 41kb)
  A Capital City Academy and Brent library service partnership using the national Summer Reading Challenge™ to keep children enthused about books and reading throughout the summer holidays.
• Brent Chatterbooks Extreme...  (pdf, 44kb)
  Chatterbooks Extreme is a Brent Libraries reading group for young people in school Years 6-9 (ages 10-14), based on the Chatterbooks model. The group was set up in September 2006 to build on success with Chatterbooks and to sustain members’ interest in reading through the transition from primary to secondary school.
• Reading buddies project... (pdf, 41kb)
  Secondary school library project to improve literacy levels and self-esteem for a group of Year 8 students involved three age groups, two schools and a crime-fighting mouse. Year 8s worked with their Year 10 reading buddies to produce their own books which they performed for primary school pupils.
• Book Award in Birmingham...  (pdf, 45kb)
  Reality-TV-style voting tactics and a high-energy website present the vibrant key stage 3 Book Award to young readers in 85 schools across Birmingham. The website, developed by the Birmingham Schools Library Service, promotes quality fiction for 11 to 14 year-olds and raises the profile of libraries.
• School-based reading challenge in Stockport...  (pdf, 41kb)
  Competitive sports theme, imaginative promotion and investment in great prizes ensured maximum participation for a Stockport secondary school key stage 3 cross-curricular reading and research challenge involving 700 students.
• Young Teen Fiction book award in Staffordshire...  (pdf, 59kb)
  The Young Teen Fiction book award promotes reading for pleasure and the work of school and public libraries to 11 to 14-year-olds.  This key stage 3 group nominates the best fiction for their year group for the award. The voting process and award activities and debates in schools and countywide enhance literacy, citizenship and social skills.
• Birmingham Young Poet Laureate... (pdf, 41kb)
  The third Young Poet Laureate, recruited by the Libraries and Archive Service to be a young ambassador for poetry and libraries, is winning friends for poetry in his visits to schools in Birmingham. The current YPL, 17-year-old Matt Windle, a trainee plumber and boxer, writes and performs poetry as an inspiration to secondary school students.
• Lesson planning for year 7 using Booked Up titles (Word, 226kb)
  This case study focussed on the things we take away from reading, rather than the things we bring to reading.