A YOUNG pupil at an Ellesmere Port high school has become a word millionaire.
Jack Jones, a Year 7 pupil at Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, has read 12 books, clocking up an amazing 1,083,877 words in just five weeks since the launch of the school’s accelerated reading programme.
Jack said: “I love reading and have particularly enjoyed reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series. The school reading scheme has given me goals to work towards and made me even more enthusiastic about reading.”
The programme, designed to encourage students to read more and improve their reading abilities, was launched in April and has produced a huge response from pupils.
In just the first five weeks of the programme, Year 7 pupils had read a total of 419 books equating to an astonishing total of 11,595,897 words.
Sheila Bullough, who planned the introduction of the scheme with librarian Chris Hale and English staff, said: “I knew that this would excite our students but had never imagined that the response would be so hugely successful. All members of the teaching staff are contributing to the programme, which has been a key factor in its success.”
Based in the school library, students select and read books at their current reading age and make rapid progress through reading in class every day for twenty minutes and continuing at home. They test their knowledge of what they have read through online quizzes for each book.
Headteacher Peter Lee said: “This competitive element really excites the boys who tend to be more reluctant readers and we know that better reading skills will help them with their studies over the coming years.”
