North Adelaide Primary School Aims for 100% Completion
15 March 2023
North Adelaide Primary School: A PRC Case Study
North Adelaide Primary School is taking on an exciting challenge in 2023 as they strive towards a 100% completion rate for the Premier’s Reading Challenge across the entire school. Alongside traditional measures, such as a library display, newsletter mentions, and an end-of-year event, the school has introduced a range of new approaches to encourage participation and completion. These include:
- Setting an explicit target of 100% Completion across the school (unless there is a compelling reason) and communicating it to students.
- Having the Librarian visit each class individually at the beginning of the year to introduce the Challenge and provide a set of visually appealing resources (poster, Class PRC Folders and bespoke poster with raffle tickets).
- Retaining PRC Forms in classrooms, bound in Class PRC Folders, to aid completion, tracking and collection.
- Conducting fortnightly classroom visits by the Librarian to check progress (via the Class PRC Folder) and check-in with individual students.
- Explicitly connecting the PRC with their goal of creating a ‘reading culture’ and ‘readers for life’ and with their School Values.
- Introducing new regular Raffle draws (12 per year) for students who have completed the Challenge. Once a student has completed the Challenge their name goes into, and remains, in a draw. At each draw they have a chance to win a voucher valued at $25.00 to spend on them classroom (either, say, a book, or piece of sports equipment, a plant etc). They are explaining this to students as a way of acknowledging that by completing the Challege they’re not only helping themselves but their classmates as well as contributing to school culture and leading by example.
- Advertising early-on the ‘end-of-year experience (a visit by SA organisation ‘Animals Anonymous’). Two students from each class will be selected by draw to attend.
The Premier’s Reading Challenge is always on the lookout for fresh and creative approaches that schools use to encourage participation in the program. We hope that the information presented above has been informative and has inspired you to consider implementing similar strategies in your school. If you have any new ideas or techniques that you would like to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at prc@sa.gov.au.
We extend our sincere gratitude to the North Adelaide Primary School team for sharing their successful methods and serving as a valuable case study for the PRC. We wish them every success as they embark on their trial year in pursuit of a 100% completion rate in 2023. Happy reading to all participants, and we look forward to hearing about the many reading achievements to come!
