Nia Brace
A pupil at Llanishen High school has won £100 of shopping vouchers in a summer reading competition organised by Cardiff Council and TheSprout.
Nia Brace, a Year 9 pupil from Llanishen entered the Summer Reading Challenge through the Reading Power Book Club, an online book club for young people in Cardiff. Each month a book is listed on TheSprout website and then is discussed by readers in the comments section.
It’s one of a range of initiatives by Cardiff Council, designed to improve standards in reading across secondary schools, which complement a focus on literacy skills in all subjects across the curriculum.
Nia took up the Summer Reading Challenge by choosing to read three books from the Reading Power Book Club list during the school summer holiday. To complete the challenge she posted her book reviews on TheSprout online book club and was thrilled to find out that she had won the competition. Nia plans to buy a Kindle with her prize vouchers.
Nia chose to read the Hunger Games – Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Wonder by R J Palacio. She said: “I found out about the competition from TheSprout website as I enjoy the online book club and I enjoy reading. My favourite book out of the three was The Fault in our Stars. It’s about a 16 year old cancer patient and her friendship with Augustus Waters. Even though they are both struggling with cancer, they have lots of adventures and fun on the way. It is a powerful book and really draws you in. I didn’t want to put it down.”
Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning Cllr Julia Magill said: “Congratulations to Nia, it’s great to see young people actively taking part in the Reading Power Challenge. Literacy plays a fundamental role in people’s lives and as a Council we recognise the importance of raising standards so that everyone can fulfil their potential.”
Llanishen High School Head teacher, Robert Smyth said: “I am delighted that Nia has won the Summer Reading Challenge. She’s a great ambassador for Llanishen High School and for reading. Nia is a contributor to the annual shadowing of the Carnegie Medal, reading and reviewing the books and taking part in the South East Wales School Library Association two day event. She also took part in the Scribblers Tour event organised by Hay Festival and held at Cardiff University as well as joining the annual visit to the Hay Festival each May.
“The Reading Power literacy strategy has helped our students to see literacy as an important and valuable life skill. Encouraging students to read and discuss books makes a real difference to their confidence and ability to communicate as well as raising standards in reading.”
