World Book Day - 5th March 2010
March 2010
Salford City Academy has celebrated World Book Day with a wealth of activities alongside successful childrens' authors Alan Gibbons and Tom Palmer. The Peel Green School invited recognised authors to bring passion for literacy alive in a range of stimulating discussions, workshops and games.
In the first celebratory session, the author of Hold On, Chicken, and Scared to Death, Alan Gibbons, uncovered modern twists in classic childrens' stories. Salford City Academy pupils compared classics from Alan's youth to their own favourites and were shown how to read between the lines to see how the modern day can be brought to life in fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel.
Alan Gibbons said "My aim is to help children realise their reading and writing skills and show them it can be enriching and fun. I want to stir them up with my workshops and looking at the base for all writing - fairytales - is an eye-opening and lively exercise. You wouldn't get an 18 certificate for some of them if you turned those stories into a film nowadays!"
Tom Palmer, author of Football Detective and Football Academy, was invited to inspire Salford City Academy Year 7 pupils with his passion for Football and writing. The Academy also invited local children along from primary schools Barton Moss, Beech Street, St. Andrews, Godfrey Ermen, Christ Church and Lewis Street to join in the learning fun.
Tom's interactive sessions included ‘The Football Reading Game', a game of two halves! All pupils enjoyed a quiz about football reading in a range of materials from newspapers to non-fiction books. The second part of the game was an exciting penalty shoot out that got the kids on their feet and scoring goals, all to win a football trophy.
Tom Palmer says "I love to get children talking about what they like to read - magazines, newspapers or books - and if they like to read about football, celebrities or whatever! I got into reading through my interest in football, so I try and encourage pupils to do the same."
The fun and interactive sessions were an inspirational and energetic way to raise awareness of literacy amongst Salford pupils. To celebrate World Book Day, Salford City Academy encouraged pupils throughout the school in all lessons to share their thoughts about reading and to discuss favourite - and not so favourite - books in front of each other.
Year 7 pupil Reece Robinson was selected to assist on the day, directing visiting primary school children to their seats and handing out information. For his efforts, Tom personally thanked him with a signed copy of his book ‘Dead Ball'.
Reece said "I was really proud to be given the responsibility of helping out on the day and felt especially grown-up helping out pupils from my old primary school! It was great to meet and talk with a real author! I didn't really read before but he got me interested in reading and I especially want to make a start on my signed book."
Elizabeth Haddock, Salford City Academy Principal said "These authors are fantastic role models for our pupils and ensured we celebrated World Book Day in a high spirits! Tom Palmer is especially effective for encouraging reading in the younger boys, which is a traditionally challenging area nationally."