Reading Schools in Gaelic speaking classes and schools
Discover more about Reading Schools in settings that include Gaelic Medium education (GME).
Reading Schools is an accreditation programme for schools that are committed to building a culture around reading for pleasure for their learners, staff and communities. Research shows that reading for pleasure is central to supporting equity and well-being, positively impacting learners' attainment across the curriculum, critical thinking, creativity, empathy and resilience.
Reading Schools is open to all schools in Scotland, mapped to How Good Is Our School? 4(this will open in a new window), and flexible to a wide variety of settings and situations. The accreditation process is a journey, supported by resources and tools that will help you draw out the best impact for your setting. The friendly Scottish Book Trust team are also on hand to help you navigate any aspects that you are unsure how to approach in your particular setting and offer personalised guidance on the flexibility of the Reading Schools Framework (this will open in a new window)to suit your individual requirements.
Reading Schools is a whole-school accreditation, and we expect to see evidence from all year groups and classes including GME. Gaelic speaking classes should be represented in Reader Leadership Groups by staff and learners and plans in place to work collaboratively to achieve their goals. In Key Areas where whole school activity is required, we would expect to see some sharing across language. In appropriate Key Areas, we would also expect to see Gaelic speaking or learning family members and community representatives to be included in plans.
Reading Schools looks for a school to be nurturing the enjoyment of reading in individuals, allowing staff and learners to explore their own reading personalities, display likes and dislikes and make confident choices. To discover and develop these, a school will seek to make a variety of ‘reading’ available (this may include audiobooks, non-fiction, magazines, and newspapers) and may seek to further enthuse and inspire with events or special projects around books.
We are delighted to be working with a number of registered and accredited Gaelic Medium education (GME) settings or schools with GME classes, with positive results.
Some examples:
- Using songs and rhymes in Gaelic as a basis to explore storytelling, or ‘read aloud’ from wordless books.
- Using activity ideas from our ‘10 things to do with any book’ resources (primary (this will open in a new window)and secondary(this will open in a new window)) to integrate Gaelic into exploration of stories.
- Exploring the Bookbug Songs and Rhymes Library(this will open in a new window) Gaelic catalogue.
- Hosting an author event. There are a number of Gaelic-speaking authors in the Scottish Book Trust directory(this will open in a new window) (part funding is available throughout the year via the Live Literature(this will open in a new window) application form).
- A number of schools have held joint bag gifting events, celebrating English and Gaelic together alongside their local library and community. Read Write Count with the First Minister(this will open in a new window) and Bookbug(this will open in a new window) provide Gaelic books.
- A whole-school interdisciplinary learning project created from a wordless book and presented in multiple languages, including Gaelic.
- Creating their own Gaelic quizzes in programmes such as Giglets or Accelerated Reader to further explore narrative.
- Gaelic stories used as part of a 1+2 approach(this will open in a new window) explored further to create wider projects across the whole school.
- Using our Gaelic language posters to display their commitment to being a Reading School.
- Using 50 Word Fiction(this will open in a new window) as creative writing prompts
- Highlighting audiobooks and animated stories from resources such as Gaelic4Parents(this will open in a new window) for learners, and to promote family engagement
- Exploring broader resources that can compliment the building and nurturing of a reading culture, for example from Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig (this will open in a new window)
Related Resources
1.3.2 School environment(this will open in a new window)
- We are working to become a Reading School poster - Reading Schools
- Ask me what I'm reading badges - Reading Schools
- Library support poster - Reading Schools
1.3.3 National events and celebrations(this will open in a new window)
2.2.2 Interdisciplinary book projects(this will open in a new window)
2.3.5 Access to authors (this will open in a new window)
- Authors - Scottish Book Trust(this will open in a new window) (use language and age group filters)
- AuthorsLive on Demand - Scottish Book Trust(this will open in a new window) (use language and age group filters to find Gaelic recordings such as this one from James Robertson and Catriona Lexy Campbell: The Gruffalo in Scots and Gaelic(this will open in a new window))
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your ideas for your particular setting with the team.