The Power of Literacy: Celebrating Book Week and Beyond

Ms Jenny Pollock | Deputy, Academic Strategy | 28 August 2024

Student engagement and enjoyment were very evident at the Junior School Book Week Parades last week. Students delighted in becoming the characters they had selected from one of their favourite books.

Book Week is an important week in the School calendar as it is an opportunity to encourage and develop children’s literacy skills. The value of developing good literacy skills in Junior School cannot be underestimated. Not only is the ability to read proficiently critical to a student’s entire education, but it is also “predictive of future education, health and employment outcomes”. (AERO, 2023) Recent research indicates that “Students arriving in secondary school who have not developed foundational literacy skills will, without significant support, struggle to participate in classes that require them to engage with more complex materials and topics (AERO, 2024, pg. 5). The research also indicates that the literacy support “often requires parental or caregiver support in effective implementation.

Parents can support the development of children’s reading skills. Research reveals that a “literacy-rich environment at home, which includes language in various forms (like talking, listening, reading, storytelling and visual arts), allows children to practise their literacy skills often, in functional ways.” (AERO, 2021).

For these reasons, the Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) has also been promoted at St Luke’s Grammar School. The Challenge aims to encourage in each student participant, a love of reading for leisure, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. Happy reading to the many students who have entered, and we look forward to even more students participating next year.

 

References:

  • Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) December 2021. “Engaging with families for children’s early learning and development.”
  • Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). January 2023. “Introduction to the science of reading.”
  • Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). February 2024. “Introduction to a Multi-tiered System of Supports.”