Sixth Formers mentor Year 7 and 8 as Reading Ambassadors

Our Sixth Formers are role models for students at the whole school and one of the ways in which they are involved is through our Sixth Form Reading Ambassador project.

This hugely successful initiative at Bourne Academy sees a Sixth Form student paired with a Year 7 or 8 student who they then meet with once a week for a reading mentoring session.

The Sixth Form students listen to their mentees reading and ask them comprehension questions about their books. They also support them with accessing the Accelerated Reader scheme with the overall aim of the project being to improve confidence with reading, as well as improving the students’ reading ages.

The project is run by Year 13 student Katie White and her team of senior Reading Ambassadors.

Daisy Bland, Assistant Headteacher said “The project has been a resounding success at Bourne Academy with over 80 students taking part. The Sixth Form students overseeing the programme have been fantastic at scheduling the weekly sessions and providing training for their peers. Feedback from the Year 7 and 8 mentees has been overwhelmingly positive with many saying that they hugely look forward to their reading session each week and reporting significantly increased levels of confidence with their reading. I am so proud of all of the students involved in the project and am excited to see how we can develop it further in the future with the launch of our new writing mentoring scheme.”