Wigan high school pupils tune in to audio books to boost their reading skills

Ofsted inspectors recently found some youngsters at Hindley High School were not reading as well as would be expected, after being away from the classroom in the first national lockdown.

So staff have been taking action to brush-up their skills, particularly as the school is shut to the majority of pupils once again to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Amy Bowden and Claire Wilding, who are lead practitioners for English, said: “We are passionate about promoting a love for reading so we wanted to ensure that students have opportunities to continue reading whilst they are not in school. Reading unlocks lots of doors for students and encouraging a love and want for reading is something which we want to ignite in our students.

“We have purchased an audio book for each year group. Students read at least 15 minutes of the audio book every week and then complete a quiz at the end of reading each section.”

The audio books have proved to be a hit with pupils.

A year 11 pupil said: “I love it because I love crime stories and films. I also listened to a bit more than I should have because I couldn’t wait a week before carrying on! I’m glad you’ve chose this book!”

A year 10 pupil said: “It is enjoyable to listen to, especially in the morning before lesson as in a way, it gets you prepared and gets your mind thinking for the day ahead.

“I would definitely say that being home has increased the amount I read, I think that’s because of the less social interaction though.

“For example, at school you could always discuss about something on the news or something you’ve seen, whereas being online, to know about them things you have to read a lot more.

“I’m definitely more invested in reading now then I was say last year because of everything that’s happening but in general, there’s a lot more time to actually pick up a book and read.”

The school also invited a group of pupils to a book club to read texts aimed at challenging them.

And it has bought Renaissance myON for all pupils, which is a student-centred, personalised literacy environment giving access to more than 6,000 digital books.

There are more ideas in the pipeline, as the school focuses on helping pupils catch up and embrace their passion for books.

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