Attitudes to reading begin to develop from a very young age but with heavier timetables and distractions from age 11 upwards, it can be a real struggle to keep students continually engaged with reading for pleasure throughout their time at school.
In secondary education in particular, reading for pleasure can have a hugely beneficial effect on mental health, self-esteem and overall well-being especially around exam time and the school holidays.
So how do you keep students engaged and promote reading across the whole school community?
By putting the library right at the heart of the school with Reading Cloud. Our library management system with its engaging student reading community helps you bring educators, senior leaders, students and parents together making the library an invaluable central resource.
There are 2 different library management system packages to choose from, Plus (formerly Eclipse) and Premium. So whether you’re just starting out or your library is more established, there’s a Reading Cloud package to suit you.
Meeting curriculum objectives
Through Reading Cloud’s library management systems for senior schools, librarians and teachers can create targeted reading lists for specific year groups or class sets to support curricular topics. Reading Cloud’s catalogue search function encourages students to actively search their school library online to develop their information seeking skills, whilst the blogging and reviewing area where students can write about their favourite books and authors, builds their confidence, social skills and understanding of texts.
Homework and coursework are important parts of a student’s learning in this phase of education. With access to course specific content, an eBook library and pre-approved, curriculum relevant web links, Reading Cloud is a great companion to support both. Additionally, with the Reading Cloud app, students have access to library resources at home, meaning they are able to work any time and from anywhere however they prefer.
Track and evidence reading initiatives
The ability to monitor, report on and identify key reading trends in your school will prove invaluable when it comes to decision-making generally, inspections and interventions. With the key intelligence Reading Cloud provides, you can see how many pupils are using your library, compare users by demographics and see the most popular titles in your school. You can also compare the most popular books and authors across the complete Reading Cloud database, giving you an indication of which books to purchase for your school.
It was lovely to see a class so enthusiastic about a library programme and I am pleased that they want to use this at home. Reviews have already started coming through and quite a lot of students logged on at lunchtime independently which was nice to see!
Beth Khalil, library Resource Centre Manager Thorp Academy Gateshead
Get in touch today to book a short demo and see what Reading Cloud can do for you and your school. We can visit you in school or arrange an online demo, whichever suits you best!
