2000 new reading books have arrived for students at Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School Ormeau – and just in time for Queensland School Library Week (Monday 13 to Friday 17 February).
The $20,000 reading and resources upgrade at the Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) school includes the new books, online reading materials, comprehension resources and subscriptions, teaching resources, and additional iPads.
Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School Principal Leigh Mirto said his students will have their noses in the new books during Library Week, a celebration of lifelong learning and reading.
“We have a lot of book worms at our school and this reading book upgrade will provide an abundant level of texts at every reading level,” he said.
“The upgrade will also help increase student interest in reading, allowing our teachers to progress students with their reading at a faster rate.
“With an increase in student engagement we will also see an increase in student comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary at our school.”
Leigh said this upgrade will help continue to build a culture of reading for enjoyment, a focus for the school.
“Our students will not only be learning to read, but they will also be reading to learn,” he said.
“I know this upgrade will see increased literacy skills across the curriculum and will create many new pathways for our students to grow, achieve, and succeed together.
“I love knowing that we can provide our students with the opportunities to really develop a love of language and a mastery of how to use it.”
With the new reading resources also comes a revamped teaching framework, the principal said.
“The new framework we have created will allow teachers to spend more time on the teaching of the skills of reading, rather than using excessive time for planning and researching of books,” he said.
“The online element, digital literacy, will also make the classrooms come alive with texts on the interactive boards and their personal devices.
“As part of the upgrades we also now have a dedicated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher who will work within our library space to champion literacy across a range of subject offerings.
“Our teachers have also been trained on using the new levelled readers and books.”
For more information about Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School Ormeau click here.