Calder High School has embraced the Accelerated Reader programme and it has become an intrinsic part of the curriculum for students in Year 7 and 8. Accelerated Reader is a customised reading programme that meets the needs of individual students. Students are given their personalised Reading Range – their ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ – this enables students to find a book which is appropriate to their reading level. English teachers and librarians encourage students to read a variety of books to develop their literacy skills and help them to meet the challenges of life in the 21st century.

Every Year 7 and 8 class has one timetabled lesson per week in the Learning Resource Centre so that students can choose their books, read and take a computerised quiz on their relevant book. This gives the students instant feedback on their attainment. 

Accelerated Reader is a whole school initiative that encourages all students in Year 7 and 8 to read at least 30 minutes everyday. This is supported in the school curriculum as Year 7 students read four times a week and Year 8 students read twice a week in registration.  During this time students can access the Learning Resource Centre to take a quiz and change their book.

Students are encouraged to read a book from home, swap books or recommend books for the LRC to purchase.  Students wishing to look up titles that are part of the Accelerated Reader programme can search through over 19,000 books on www.arbookfind.co.uk.

2011 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal Winners:

	The CILIP Carnegie Medal Winner: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness The judges chose 'Monsters of Men' from a very strong shortlist of books...stating that it is "...an enthralling read that is well nigh impossible to put down and while a fitting conclusion to a remarkable trilogy, it is a novel that both stands alone and stands out."
	The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner: FArTHER, illustrated and written by Grahame Baker-Smith This book was selected as the winner demonstrating a "wealth of detail...allows the artist to convey not only darker emotions...but also the hope symbolised by a new generation"

Year 6 Reading Challenge 2011 50 pupils from 11 primary schools took part in this year's Reading Challenge. The project this year took another step in using digital technologies. Pupils were asked to choose their favourite book and create a book trailer using a programme called Photostory 3 for Windows. They were able to use images and music and narrate the trailer themselves. Before the Reading Challenge started, two year 7 pupils, created a demo book trailer. The year 6 pupils were shown this when they came to Calder High for an introductory session. They were then able to try out the Photostory programme and start finding images for their chosen books. The book trailers they created were excellent and presentations were made at a celebration lunch at Calder High on Friday 8 April. Well done to all who took part.

Calderdale Children's Book of the Year Awards 2011
A literary lunch was the order of the day for Year 7 students participating in the Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year Award 2011. Students from twelve Calderdale secondary schools attended Halifax library to meet the authors and voted for their favourite book. Congratulations to Georgia Cronshaw for her book review of The Sandfather and Amy Smethurst for her book review of Auslander.

All the nominated books can be borrowed from the Calder High School Library.
Students enjoyed the authors’ presentations, and question and answer sessions before they voted for their favourite book. The winner of the Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year Award 2011 was Auslander by Paul Dowswell.

Amy Smethurst reviews the events of the day:
"I really enjoyed our trip to the library. Meeting the authors was really good fun and they told us lots about their books and what inspired them to write. First, we were put into groups where we discussed the positive and negative points of each book, our favourite characters and what we liked about them.

Next, we met the authors of two of the books. Meeting Paul Dowswell was particularly interesting and informative because he told us a lot about the holocaust, and that he went to Germany to research as it was important that the book was historically correct. Linda Newbery’s talk about “The Sandfather” was also very interesting because she told us a lot about the place near the sea that she had visited as a girl which was where most of the book was set.

The Questions and Answers session was good because if you did not have time to ask the questions yourself during the talk, you wrote them on a slip of paper which would be read out during the session. All of my questions were answered with interesting responses.

Waiting for the announcement of the winner was exciting and I was pleased when the winner was announced as it was Paul Dowswell for “Auslander”, as he was my favourite author."

Shortlisted books:
Auslander by Paul Dowswell	The Dead by David Gatward	Bad Tuesdays - Twisted Symmetry by Benjamin J Myers	The Sandfather by Linda Newbery	Foul Play: Off Side by Tom Palmer