Reading Challenge 2016

By: Danielle Fortin, International Coordinator

In 2006, the teachers of our sister school, Arlington Traditional School, solidified our partnership by bringing their annual Reading Challenge to Uganda with a theme of “Reading is Global.” ATS’ hope in including REACH in their tradition was to instill a positive reading culture with our students in Uganda to help their educational journey. At that time, Arlington Junior School had a very small “library” which was a pile of books in the head teacher’s office. Students had to individually visit the head teacher and choose from a small pile of books. As the years passed and more volunteers travelled to Uganda bringing hundreds of books with them, our students got more and more excited about reading.

Fast-forward to 2016 and we are celebrating the completion of our 11^th Reading Challenge in our own spacious library full of hundreds and hundreds of books and learning materials! With the highest number of books read being 572 and the total number read by all students of 105,896, it is safe to say that our students’ super power really is reading. We could never have seen the growth in our students’ passion for reading and their English skills if it wasn’t for Arlington Traditional School. With countless donations of books, reading challenge materials, support, and even a recent donation of money for books, ATS has really made a positive impact on our school.

On October 14^th student’s, staff and community members gathered in our library to acknowledge the dedication the students showed in reading! All the best winners in the reading challenge were awarded gifts for their achievements. The overall best readers were given school bags, pencils, a reading book, and stickers. The top three readers at each class level were also awarded gifts of a reading book, stickers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, umbrellas, and kerosene lanterns. We also awarded the top readers in the “infant” classes, “middle” classes, and “upper” classes with similar gifts to encourage themselves and their peers to keep reading!

To see if your sponsored child excelled in the reading challenge check out the results below:

Best overall readers
	Name	Class	#of Books
Boy	Nambale Isaac	P5	572
Girl	Kibone Sarah	P3	568

Best in Infant Classes
Name	Grade	#of Books
Lubuya Catherine	P2	562

Best in Middle Classes
Name	Grade	#of Books
Nafungo Joy	P4	558

Best in Upper Classes
Name	Grade	# of Books
Wakimwayi Allan	P6	500

Best readers in P1
	Name	# of Books
1	Namanda Daniel	280
2	Katisi Peace	250
3	Wabwire Kelvin	244

Best readers in P2
	Name	# of Books
1	Nabatanzi Desire	500
2	Wakwale Joel	478
3	Nabende Brian	472

Best readers in P3
	Name	# of Books
1	Matanda Keturah	550
2	Watulo Sulaiman	541
3	Amara Solomon	520

Best readers in P4
	Name	# of Books
1	Walimbwa Abdul	588
2	Atuhaire Emmanuel	570
3	Wekoye Moses	503

Best readers in P5
	Name	# of Books
1	Seera Kaana	555
2	Watera Joy	546
3	Kisakye Joshua	527

Best readers in P6
	Name	# of Books
1	Wereba Bashir	463
2	Kimono Sarah	427
3	Kooko Joshua	418

Best readers in P7
	Name	# of Books
1	Nandele Mary Kuloba	251
2	Kwambukha Felista	236
3	Watsemwa Fridah	234

Total Performance of Each Class
Class	Books Read	Position
P1	6,355	7
P2	18,565	3
P3	15,381	5
P4	21011	2
P5	21,978	1
P6	16,044	4
P7	6,5862	6