Reading Schools Week

We will be taking part in the first ever Reading Schools Week, a five-day extravaganza designed to celebrate the incredible activities taking place everyday in Elgin Academy Gold Reading School.

We will be exploring the importance (and fun!) of reading.

Alan Bissett, award-winning writer, playwright, performer and speaker, will be discussing and sharing issues from his new book: Lads: A Guide to Respect and Consent with all of S3; all of S4 and a number of S5 and S6 pupils.

This book has been written for teenage boys, with the aim of helping them to navigate relationships, negative online influences and social issues. While it’s aimed at young men, there’s also plenty in it for teenage girls, to help them define their own boundaries

This visit has been funded by Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Programme.

Run by Scottish Book Trust, Reading Schools is an accreditation programme that recognises schools for their commitment to building a culture of reading for their learners and communities.

Since achieving the silver award in early 2023, the school and pupils have worked extremely hard to earn that gold status, participating in a variety of events and activities designed to promote the joys of reading.

Elgin Academy’s librarian, Shelagh Toonen, and her school improvement group supported by the pupils, have been instrumental in this achievement. They’ve created an environment that not only celebrates the fun and importance of reading but have become proud champions of reading across the whole community.

The group has implemented partnerships and family projects such as a reading projects with primary schools and Anderson’s care home, worked with local businesses and held a fundraiser for a book basket to give away to parents in a free raffle.

Moray Council Newsroom 25 January 2024.

One Reading Leader, Evie Collins, said: “Working towards our Gold Award gave us the opportunity to build connections with our community in and outside of school. It helped us to share our love of reading and to spread the importance and fun of reading with others in lots of different ways.”

Bethan Dodd, another Reading Leader, added: “Achieving Gold has taught us that, even though we have now achieved gold accreditation, we still have lots of creative opportunities to share reading in our community.”

Chair of Moray Council’s Education, Communities and Leisure Services Committee, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said: “A massive congratulations to everyone at Elgin Academy. What an amazing achievement to become the first school in Moray to receive the Reading Schools’ Gold award and it’s so encouraging to see the dedication the staff and pupils have had in sharing reading within the community.”