Avondale Community College wins national Wellread award
AVONDALE Community College has achieved national recognition after receiving a prestigious PDST Wellread National Award at a ceremony in Citywest Hotel.
The national initiative is designed and organised by the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and is aimed at creating a heightened awareness about the importance of reading and fostering a culture of reading for pleasure within our schools.
The school’s Wellread journey began with the establishment of a teacher committee to draft the objectives for the year and plan key events and initiatives to achieve these goals. A Wellread student committee was established, consisting of Transition Year students who had already been involved with the school library or who had shown a keen interest in the initiative. They oversaw a number of activities, such as hosting events during the school’s Roald Dahl celebrations, turning the canteen into Hogwarts for World Book Week, assisting in the school’s entry in the Spellebrate competition and consistently liaising between staff and students in order to create numerous impressive visual literary displays. In addition, cultural trips to see productions of ‘Macbeth’ in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre and ‘King Lear’ further enriched the students’ learning and promoted a deeper appreciation of the arts.
The paired reading in the Boys’ National School in Rathdrum continued and trips to Roddy Doyle’s ‘Fighting Words’ in Glencree were organised along with several visits from authors. Furthermore, there was a display of Black-Out poetry by first years in the local library. Parents and guardians were also included in the project with the hosting of a Pop-Up Book Café and, for those unable to attend, an adult reading challenge was posted on the school Facebook page.
A delegation from Avondale Community College travelled to the Citywest Hotel to collect their award. In attendance were Principal Rosaleen O’Neill, English teacher Adana Keane and Student Committee members, Alana Barnes, Sadhbh Galvin, Cara Hagan, Grace Merry–O’Sullivan, Abhainn Wheeler and Robyn Whelan.