At the Preschool, we have combined student leadership and pre-literacy to shape learning and nurture the children’s love of reading.
A lot has been shared on reading and how it helps develop children’s creativity, sparks their curiosity and ignites the imagination. We have found that nurturing a love for reading from a young age paves the way for habitual reading, and consequently help develop their vocabulary, listening skills and persistence.
One of the initiatives we have found effective is engaging our older Preschool children in leadership, what it means to them, and ways they can demonstrate it through acts of service.
While they continue to understand and extend their reading, we ask our older Preschool children to practise leadership by selecting their favourite stories and reading them to our younger children. By showcasing their love for books, their confidence in reading, crafting stories and having conversations about the book with their peers, we formed a practice that provides our older children a chance to build confidence and offer their service, while our younger children benefit from modelling the good habit of reading and sharing what they had leant.
It is heartening to see our children across age groups share these precious moments; reading together and having conversations, and developing deep bonds while strengthening their understanding of tuakana-teina, the act of sharing knowledge and caring for those that are younger and ensuring that our Saint Kentigern values are at the heart of all that we do.
