As we approach World Book Day, the girls in St Anne’s Primary School have been getting a head start! Reading is strongly promoted in the school, and this has led to the pupils reading a huge amount of novels this school year. Already, 10 pupils from as young as second class have read over a million words since September and a further 16 have read over half a million. These star pupils are closely followed by several more pupils who have each read hundreds of thousands of words in the past few months as part of the school’s current reading initiatives. A few years ago the Board of Management invested in an Accelerated Reading Programme which encourages pupils to take online quizzes on virtually all children’s literature and gives teachers instant information on how pupils are progressing. Pupils have access to individual laptops and this coupled with a continual investment in modern, up-to-date library books has meant a huge surge in reading amongst school pupils. The school is grateful to the Parents Association who funded many of the books, in addition to those procured through the School Book Fair. In the past few years, the school has seen the amount of engagement with reading increase substantially. Pupils are hitting targets much earlier in the school year and far greater numbers are achieving exceptionally high levels of reading. The St Anne’s girls are well up to date with reading trends with the current bestselling authors like David Walliams, Rachel Renée Russell (Dork Diaries) and Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid) featuring prominently on pupils desks. Recently there has been a renewal of interest in Harry Potter and Skulduggery Pleasant amongst senior classes but old favourites by authors like Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Judi Curtin and Louis Sachar are still popular. In lower classes the “Daisy” series is topping our school charts with Roald Dahl, Jill Murphy and Enid Blyton also popular. “Reading is a gift for life” so whoever the author, St Anne’s girls have the gift!