This is the first of several blogs about how you can use the buzz around the Rugby World Cup to encourage reading for pleasure in your school.
If you want reading for pleasure campaigns to work in your school or library, you need all, or at least some, of your colleagues on board. And that starts in the staffroom.
Staff rugby reading training
In the lead up to the Rugby World Cup use one of the school’s staff meetings as a chance to train or inform your colleagues in the joys of rugby reading.
Take three ideas from the Read Rugby toolkit (see link below). Ones that will work well in with your pupils. Ask your colleagues to help you tailor those ideas for the children in your school. As well as helping you to make the ideas work best for you, it may also bring some of them on board with delivering the ideas.
Then talk about what else you can do, using the toolkit.
Staff rugby readers
Ask your colleagues if they would like to join you as rugby reading champions. Are some of them rugby fans? Or general sports fans? Can they be persuaded?
They could be encouraged to look out for reluctant readers in school and talk to them about rugby – or other – reading, help you run rugby reading book groups, talk to parents about your plans in the playground.
Ask them to generate their own ideas – or to choose some from the toolkit.
Staffroom poster
Create a poster for the staffroom, reminding your colleagues of your rugby reading activities.
Staff reading selfies
Kids love to know what their teachers are reading. Ask all your colleagues to do a rugby reading selfie for your school display areas. Ideally rugby books, magazines or newspapers. But – if they are not into rugby – a selfie of them reading something that they are passionate about.
Reluctant reader posters
In the same way you have posters in staffrooms about children and their allergies or health issues, put up some posters of children who aren’t keen on reading, but who do like sport. Say what sports they like. Encourage your colleagues to talk to them about things they have read.
Rugby Readers
Employ pupils as Rugby Readers, so that they can help you champion rugby reading during 2015, allow them into the staffroom as special children during their role as champions.
For more free ideas and resources about using the Rugby World Cup to encourage children to read for pleasure, please visit http://englandrugbyteachersresource.com/putting-it-into-practice/other-subjects/literacy and check out the Read Rugby toolkit. It takes less than a minute to subscribe.
Many thanks.
