The more you read the more things you know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go!
DR. Seuss
The Summer of Literacy Reading challenge
Begins in...
THE
The Summer of Literacy
READING CHALLENGE 2021
On Monday 26th April 2021, Achievement for All will launch The Summer of Literacy Reading challenge across the globe to encourage children everywhere to read as much as possible!
The years 2020 and 2021 have been the most disrupted years for children and young people for nearly a century.
The Children’s Commissioner has said, the pandemic and the lockdown has stolen 840 million days of schooling from children and young people in the UK: that’s roughly equivalent to 19 weeks per pupil.
Children need help to catch-up these 19 weeks – especially those children and young people who are disadvantaged or who are experiencing SEND. Children and young people are counting on all of us to make sure that they ready as they can be for the start of the next school year.
At Achievement for All, we are stepping up with AfA’s Summer of Literacy to support all children and young people to catch up and be school or work ready, building the skills and resilience through learning activities that engage them to explore and apply all areas of literacy (speaking and listening, reading and writing…even singing!).
IN 2019 WE HAD...
489619
PEOPLE JOIN IN
140874550
MINUTES READ
Frequently asked questions
1. How long is the challenge?
We want to make sure that as many settings as possible have the chance to take part in the challenge. The Challenge starts at 9am on Thursday 4th March 2021 and will continue until 5pm on Wednesday 31st March 2021. You are welcome to participate for as long as works best for you and your school, setting, family or organisation – whether you read for the first week, a month or anything in between – all reading counts! We're encouraging everyone to try and read as much as they can so we can reach this never-before-reached target.
2. How do you log the reading minutes?
In the resources section of the 200 Million Minutes website, you will find bookmarks that can be printed and handed out to your readers – these are how children and young people can log their reading minutes throughout the challenge. Alternatively, you can log the minutes in a notebook or log centrally.
One person (the Challenge Champion) should take responsibility for entering the minutes on the website throughout the challenge. You will be able to start entering minutes and view the live leaderboard from 9am on Thursday 5th March.
If you’re a school or a large setting or organisation, we suggest that class teachers or team leaders count up the children and young peoples’ minutes and send the number to the challenge champion to add the totals to the website. This can be done every couple of days in the campaign week and weekly or even fortnightly thereafter.
The bookmarks can be printed and handed out for every week that you are participating.
3. What reading counts towards the total?
All reading counts towards your minutes. Children and young people can read anything. Paperbacks, magazines, comics, plays, newspapers and e-books are all great. They can read on their own, as part of a group or with an adult.
4. How is the live leaderboard decided?
The leaderboard is decided by the average number of minutes read per child/young person. The average will be obtained by dividing the total number of reading minutes entered by each setting on the 200 Million Minutes website by the total number of participating children and young people. The winners of the competition will be the schools, groups, settings, organisations or individuals with the highest average number of reading minutes per child.
5. What are the prizes?
We have a range of great prizes available. Details of the prizes will be available on the challenge website.
6. How can we get our readers engaged with the challenge?
In the resources section of the challenge site, you will find your Welcome Pack - this outlines a number of fun ways that you can get your readers excited about books and literacy. It also includes fun resources like door hangers, games and certificates.
From holding reading visits in the community, to building creative reading spaces or running poetry competitions, we want everyone to get creative!
7. Why are we running the challenge?
The 200 Million Minutes Reading Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading and make sure all children and young people, irrespective of their background, challenge or need, are engaging with literacy and lead brighter futures.
8. What’s the last date that we can enter reading minutes?
Minutes can be entered on the site from at 9am on Thursday 4th March 2021 and will continue until 5pm on Wednesday 31st March 2021. You will not be able to enter minutes after this time.
9. How do we know how much we’ve read in total?
You will be able to keep track of the total minutes you’ve entered on the challenge site. You will also receive certificates by email when you reach different reading milestones throughout the challenge!
10. How are the minutes validated?
Each setting that takes part has sole responsibility for validating the number of reading minutes that it enters during the competition. By entering the competition, you have confirmed that all the information you submit is true, current and complete.
Achievement for All reserves the right to query any submissions received and to remove or disqualify from the competition any setting which it believes to be entering invalid, exaggerated or otherwise inaccurate or incorrect data.
11. When do we find out if we’ve won?
You will be contacted by email following the competition’s end date.
12. How should we promote our involvement in the challenge?
There are a number of ways to promote your activities and throughout the challenge, including:
Social media: Share your photos and updates on social media – don’t forget to include the hashtag #200MillionMinutes in any of your posts on Twitter and tag us in at @AfA_Education. You can also mention @AfAEducation on Facebook.
Media: Why not use the press release template in the resources section of the challenge site to tell your local media what you’re up to.
Email us: Send your photos, updates and plans to us over email. You can contact us on info@200millionminutes.org.
For more information on how you can spread the word about the challenge, download the ‘Spread the word toolkit’ in the resources section of the challenge site.
Our supporters
The 200 Million Minutes Reading Challenge wouldn’t be possible without the help of our fantastic supporters.
Together we can work to eradicate child illiteracy, building brighter futures for thousands of children and young people.
Instagram has returned invalid data.
