How it works
Reading Schools is an accreditation programme for schools that are committed to building a reading culture for their learners and communities. Research proves that reading for pleasure is central in supporting equity and wellbeing, positively impacting learners' attainment across the curriculum, critical thinking, creativity, empathy and resilience.
Reading Schools is open to all schools in Scotland!
Reading Schools offers:
- An accreditation for your school, at Core, Silver and Gold status.
- An improvement framework mapped to (this will open in a new window)How Good Is Our School? 4
- Professional development opportunities for staff
- A way to champion pupil voice
- Opportunities for collaboration within and between schools
- Pathways to engage families and the wider community
- Resources, training and support from Scottish Book Trust
Step 2
Decide which level you’d like to aim for
There are three levels of accreditation – Core, Silver and Gold. Use our handy quiz and our self-evaluation templates to help you decide which accreditation level best suits your school.
Step 3
Sign up and complete your action plan
Sign up to the Reading Schools website to access your school's application on the dashboard. Work with your Reading Leadership Group, using the framework, examples of practice and resources to help you to complete your action plan. Once you have completed the Action Plan, submit it for approval.
Step 4
Survey your learners and staff
Ask a selection of learners and staff members to fill out our attitude surveys to find out about their reading habits and views.
Step 5
Put your plans into action and collect your evidence
Your evidence plan will be available on your dashboard once your action plan is approved – we will ask for a combination of comments, quotes and photos against each key area.
Collect your evidence as you go along, add to your dashboard and share your journey with us and the Reading Schools community at (this will open in a new window)#ReadingSchools on Twitter. You can also keep up to date with our (this will open in a new window)school programmes and events on the Scottish Book Trust website.
Step 6
Submit your evidence for accreditation
Once everything is ticked off and ready to go, you can submit your Evidence Plan to gain your national accreditation and celebrate all your hard work building a culture of reading at your school!
Deadlines
Reading Schools is a rolling programme so there are no fixed deadlines. We will aim to accept your Action Plan within 5 working days and your evidence plan within 15 working days.