Ashford School Race Ahead With Reading

When Barnabus achieved 3 million words read on our Accelerated Reader program it was reported in the Kentish Express in February 2015. He went on to set a record number of words – 7,550,927, which has been unbeaten these last 5 years.

That is until now. Meet Nicholas Wood, reader extraordinaire! Apparently he didn’t set out to break the record at the beginning of the school year, this is what he had to say “I like reading and when I got to 5 million words, I realised that I could actually break this record, so I decided to just do it!”

Nicholas didn’t only break the record set by Barnabus in 2015, he resolved to set a new target of 8 million words, and on the last day of term, he reached an astonishing 8,000,118 words. Nicholas would like to thank his parents and of course Mrs Royle, the School Librarian, for encouraging him and recommending books. When asked what book he has enjoyed the most, Nicholas replied, “My favourite series is Lockwood and Co by Jonathan Stroud. I enjoy a Mystery and Horror genre. Ghosts and the supernatural make the book quite enticing to read”

Ashford Prep School are super proud of all their amazing readers with 100% of children in Year 3-6 actively engaging in the Accelerated Reader program. Mrs Royle stated that this program is an excellent educational tool to monitor, assess and progress pupils reading. In July 2019 Renaissance Learning recognised Ashford School as a Renaissance Champion School and recommended them as a Beacon School for Accelerated Reader.

Mrs Clifford, Acting Head, challenged the children when the school went into Lockdown, to top their previous accumulated total of 121 million words achieved in one school year and the children have risen to the challenge, not only beating this previous highest score but reaching an unprecedented 146 million words!