Skills for Life students at Bolton College are celebrating after completing the Six Book Challenge. Each student, many of whom had never read a book before, will attend an awards ceremony at Bolton College on Monday 11 June at 6.30pm, when their efforts will be recognised by the Mayor of Bolton, Councillor Guy Harkin, for their excellence in reading.
The Six Book Challenge, organised by The Reading Agency, is a national reading initiative aimed at encouraging adults to read for pleasure and increase their confidence in literacy. All of the students, who took part, have successfully read at least six books.
Marie Gilluley, principal of Bolton College, commented: “The Six Book Challenge provides a great opportunity to introduce students to reading books for pleasure. Some of the students taking part have never read a book in their lives and many others have not read for a considerable number of years. It seems the ‘reading bug’ is catching and many are now determined to carry on reading. It’s very rewarding to see so many students gain confidence in their abilities and develop their literary skills.”
In addition to students at Bolton College, staff and students at Warburtons and Alpha Hospital also took part and, in total, over 100 have completed the challenge.
Warburtons has sponsored the special awards evening, which will recognise the achievements of all the learners who took part. Dean Naylor, manager at Warburtons, said: “The Six Book Challenge has not only inspired people to read, it inspires them to educate in general. The benefits to the workplace are that training is now embraced and is more enjoyable for all age groups.”
Jillian Leader, a student from Bolton College, said: “Taking part in the challenge has really helped me with my English skills and given me so much confidence in my reading ability.
“I’ve got so much out of it and feel it’s been a very interesting and worthwhile experience. I now really enjoy reading and have read more than six books; I’m definitely going to continue to read.”
