Big Reading Day in Hafnarfjörður's nursery and primary schools

Literacy is the key to knowledge and understanding.

The Big Reading Day took place for the first time in Hafnarfjörður's primary schools this week. The programme was two-part, with a conference for class teachers in Years 1-4, specialist teachers, support assistants, heads of the junior department and support services, managers of after-school clubs and headteachers of Hafnarfjörður's primary schools streamed to other schools in the town from the lecture hall of Skarðshlíðarskóli. The results of surveys on literacy work in Hafnarfjörður's primary schools were reviewed, and presentations were given, among other things, on working with vocabulary and enhancing literacy in multilingual pupils.

In the afternoon, a training session for teachers on the middle- and secondary school levels, streamed live from Hvaleyrarskóli to other schools, where Ragnar Þór Pétursson, a teacher and chairman of KÍ, gave a talk on critical textual and conceptual analysis, and Jóhann Björnsson, a teacher and philosopher, gave a talk on critical thinking. In the other schools, staff gathered to follow the conference on a large screen. The conference hosts were Bjartey Sigurðardóttir, a speech and language therapist and project manager for literacy, and Vigfús Hallgrímsson, a primary school development officer at the Education and Public Health Department of Hafnarfjörður Municipality.

Staff at Skarðshlíðarskóli followed the conference in the lecture hall, while it was streamed to other schools in the town.

 A similar conference for nursery school staff will be held on 13 September and will be streamed to other nurseries from the lecture hall of Skarðshlíðarskóli. Following the conferences, a collaborative forum on literacy will be established, comprising seven groups of teachers, divided according to the age of the children they teach. The groups will meet approximately six times over the winter to discuss issues and literacy in relation to the age of their respective student groups.

Reading is the game of life.

The Big Reading Day is part of a major, comprehensive Hafnarfjörður project.

Literacy is a prerequisite for active participation in society. For several years, the City of Hafnarfjörður has been working systematically according to a clear and effective literacy strategy called 'Reading is the Game of Life'. This is a major community project where nurseries and primary schools, together with parents, the healthcare service, childminders and various municipal institutions, work in partnership to promote children's language development and literacy. The project's stated aim is for pupils to be able to read for knowledge and pleasure by the end of their primary education, and therefore a special emphasis is placed on providing all pupils with suitable instruction. Booklets on the importance of reading, which are linked to the reading strategy of Hafnarfjörður, are available in many places, for example, in nurseries, health centres, with childminders, at after-school clubs and at Hafnarfjörður Library. This major collaborative project by the community in Hafnarfjörður has, among other things, resulted in increased continuity between school levels and laid the groundwork for the importance of literacy as a cornerstone of all learning.

The conference manager was Bjartey Sigurðardóttir, a speech and language therapist and project manager at the Education and Public Health Department of Hafnarfjörður Municipality.