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ABSTRACT
Coombe Boys’ School in New Malden worked with Kingston University to establish a ‘Big Read’, a scheme of pre-arrival shared-reading for boys transitioning from local primary schools into year 7 of the Coombe Boys’ secondary school. A novel was chosen for shared-reading, and all arriving pupils were given a copy at their Induction Day (at the end of the summer term). Copies were also made available to all staff. The book was the basis of group-based activities during the school’s Summer School (three weeks before of the start of the autumn term) and of cross-curricular individual and group-based activities during the early teaching weeks of the new school year. Outcomes were monitored using online surveys of pupils, staff and parents/guardians, and through face to face interviews with individuals from representative groups. Here outcomes are reported, both direct and indirect, comparisons made with similar schemes within higher education, and recommendations are made for how the scheme might be adapted for greater effectiveness in future.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
3 http://aimhigherlondonsouth.org.uk/ based at Kingston University but working across the wider area.
5 Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development, a strand offered within all state secondary schools.
6 This is the third title in the series, implying the responder had already read the second, Beetle Queen.
7 Coombe Secondary Schools Academy Trust. Formed 2012 http://www.coombeschools.org/page/?pid=30 which includes Coombe Boys School, Coombe Girls School and Coombe Sixth Form.
8 From parent surveys, through informal contacts at open evenings, and from feedback from parents and children who attend other schools, from meetings of the School Council and Parents’ Council.