Speyside High School aimed to encourage reading for pleasure among S2 pupils, choosing fiction that made a connection with our rural community, or introduced pupils to contemporary Scottish teenage literature. Funding enabled the school to gift a book to every S2 pupil, who read either Run Wild by Gill Lewis, Sky Hawk also by Gill Lewis, or Evernight by Ross Mackenzie.
Pupils’ book responses clearly demonstrated how characters and themes captured their imaginations. Learning during a pandemic has prompted us to consider digital books in future, and online resources that pupils can use to explore the topics featured in stories.
One of the English teachers was talking to a pupil who said ‘You know Miss I don’t like reading and I’ve never finished a book before but that book we got for Christmas I enjoyed it so much I read it to the end and I’ve been looking for more books to read’
That’s what we call making a difference!
