Building cluster connections through Read, Write, Count with the First Minister and Reading Schools

We've loved supporting Morgan Academy in Dundee on their Reading Schools journey, discovering all the creative ways they have developed their reading culture and engaged the whole school community with their library.

We caught up with librarian Shona Page about the links they have been building – bringing their cluster primaries together(this will open in a new window) to promote Reading for Pleasure, learner role modelling and confidence through engaging pupils and families with the Read Write Count(this will open in a new window) gifting bags. This is such an exciting project for building positive transition links in the future, too!

I found the book-gifting sessions even more beneficial to our pupils than anticipated. Seeing them grow in confidence as they talked to younger pupils about their reading, and found ways to engage every one of them, was very gratifying. We need more events like this to strengthen ties in our wider community. This felt like a step towards establishing the Morgan Cluster as a reading community."

Contributed by Shona Page, Librarian, Morgan Academy

Setting up

A key priority from our school improvement plan this year is to build better links with our cluster primaries. So when an opportunity arose for our pupils to be involved in gifting Read, Write, Count and Bookbug bags, we grabbed it with both hands!

We decided to work with two of our cluster primaries this year: Clepington and Rosebank. Meetings were set up towards the end of term 1, involving the secondary school librarian, our Scottish Book Trust Regional Outreach Co-ordinator and primary school staff, to preview the packs and decide on a plan for the sessions. These meetings were also the ideal opportunity to discuss other ways that we could work together in the future. 

We decided that S2 pupils would be the best year group to involve in the project. Staff in the English department compiled a list of possible participants, targeting pupils who could most benefit from a boost in confidence through becoming a reading role model. All 34 pupils were then brought together in the school library for a training session. The session kicked off with a story session of Nick Sharratt’s Shark in the Park on a Windy Day – one of the books that our pupils had received in their own Bookbug P1 bag. The reminiscence that this generated perfectly illustrated the power of story sharing.

This was our first time planning a gifting event for the Bookbug and Read Write Count bags, and I was incredibly nervous as to how it would be received by the parents. However, the partnership with Morgan Academy worked so well with the S2s leading the activities, and it was so lovely to see so many parents attend and engage with this event! I really hope we were able to share a little bit of the magic that comes with receiving a new book, and this is definitely something I would love to organise again."

Clepington was our first visit and 27 S2 pupils were able to attend the gifting session. They were split over seven classrooms (and two floors!), which meant that they had to be able to work independently in an unfamiliar environment. They rose to the challenge and were quickly sharing stories and playing games with the younger children and their families as they explored the bags together. They left the school buzzing and not minding that the differences in the school day meant they’d stayed 15 minutes later than their usual finish time!

– Families and pupils at Rosebank Primary School getting ready to work with Morgan Academy’s Reading Leaders and explore their Read Write Count activities together

I was nervous to start with, but the wee ones were so cute! I really enjoyed it all and working as a team with my friends."

Staffing issues resulted in a much smaller group attending Rosebank. It wasn’t easy to choose who should have another go, but, yet again, the pupils were fantastic. We had to prise them away in order to get back to school in time for their next lesson!

The big girl helped me with the shapes – she was very kind. She looked at the dinosaur book with me and helped me read the names. It was so good."

Looking forwards

Our hope is to repeat the gifting next year and, hopefully, involve our other local primary schools, too. The project has been successful in creating a buzz about reading with our pupils – word has got out and there has been a queue of S2 pupils at the library door begging to be involved! The seeds have been sown for co-operation between primary and secondary schools and plans are afoot for more activities later this year. Overall, it has been a fantastic way to develop our schools’ reading culture and involve the wider community.

– Pupils from both schools explore the Read, Write, Count tangrams

“Lewis played the games in the bag with me and read some stories. I loved the dominoes and all the stories. It was lots of fun – I also measured him with my measuring tape!”

Our thanks to Morgan Academy for sharing, and we wish them all the best in creating an even bigger buzz next year! For more inspiration from Reading Schools across the country, or if you have an exciting project of your own to share, check out the Reading Schools Community(this will open in a new window) for more ways to be involved.

Related resources

• Becoming a Reading Schools cluster - Reading Schools(this will open in a new window)
• Read Write Count with the First Minister - Scottish Book Trust(this will open in a new window)
• Digital resources to support your paired reading projects - Reading Schools(this will open in a new window)
• Webinar: School improvement planning with Reading Schools - Reading Schools(this will open in a new window)
• Why we love librarians - Reading Schools(this will open in a new window)