Leabhair Power – Our New Reading Initiative
This year we have introduced paired reading sessions with pupils, using the skills and expertise of some of our former parents from our school community. Our team of eleven parents, work with Ms. Curran and Miss Reynolds to deliver a twice weekly paired reading session. Thanks to our committed former parents we have been able to support and encourage an even greater number of children.
Paired Reading is a research based technique that develops and supports reading fluency in a chid. The adult reads with the child and listens to and encourages the child to read independently supplying help as necessary. They may turn take if necessary as reading aloud can be tiring at times. The result is that not only will the pupil’s reading improve but also their self-esteem.
We would envisage by the end of this academic year that at least 65 children will have been able to avail of 6 hours of one to one individual paired reading.

Parent members of our Leabhair Power Team
Liz Curran, Monica Devlin, Linda Gannon, June Harmon, Deirdre Keely, Marie Mc Donagh, Joan O’ Grady, Kieran O’Donoghue,  Anne Ryan, Susan Ryan and Bridget Shelly.
Children’s Responses to their Paired Reading Sessions 2015/16
I liked going to the staffroom to read lots of different books and to read with nice people. I want to say thank you to the volunteers.
R. 4^th class
I liked reading in the staffroom because I met new people and learned new words. I got the chance to read books that I haven’t seen before. It was really nice of the people to give up their morning.
F. 5^th class
I enjoy doing the reading because my reader is very nice and helps me to read. We don’t just talk about the book, we talk about other stuff too and she helps me to understand words. We always laugh together.
S. 6^th class
I loved going to the staffroom because it is fun and the adults helped me to read. All the volunteers were very nice and now I love reading. I learned lots of new things too.
K. 4^th class
I liked reading in the staffroom because I learned different things and I learned new words. It was very interesting. I really liked the volunteers too.
J. 3^rd class
I loved it because the lady with me was really nice and she helped me. If I got a word wrong, she would help me to say it. The books were funny and the staffroom was very nice and big.
J. 5^th class
I like reading in the staffroom because the people have given up their time to help us to get better at reading. I got along great with my reader and he was very nice. He used to stop me on a word and explain it to me and made sure I remembered it.
D. 6^th class