Gateway Academy has been working hard to ensure all of the children have been reading as much as they can this year. One of many strategies they have used is to appoint a group of keen readers from all year groups (The Reading Ambassadors) who have been working with the FCAT trusts reading dog Bruce to encourage children to talk about reading and share their love of books.
Estelle Bellamy from FCAT said: "We piloted using therapy dogs to help with reading at Montgomery School and it's gone really well. They lift everybody's mood and they help to provide pupils with responsibility too.
"They are trained to help specifically with reading, so they can touch books with their noses or paw the pages to encourage children to read. They also learn tricks, which helps the children really enjoy being with the dogs and the dogs can do fun things for them as well."
Working with Joe Walsh, the Schools reading lead and Estelle Bellamy, the FCAT director of English...the children have been meeting regularly and working with children across school to talk about books and reading. The children have really embraced their new roles and have been speaking in assembly about their favourite books and launching a competition for the most improved reader in each of the classes. On Dec 13th there was a book swap and a dedicated assembly where children received a rosette from Bruce and a big round of applause from the school!