Comic Book Club in primary schools is huge success
During the Spring term we launched our Comic Book Club (pilot) with the aims of engaging reluctant readers, helping to develop a whole school reading culture and explore how we can further support schools. This pilot took place in seven of our partner schools and they received:
- £650 worth of graphic novels
- Scrapbooks and resources for the number of children in their club
- A teaching booklet outlining session plans for a Comic Book Club in their school
- A weekly subscription to Phoenix Comic Magazine
The Comic Book Club pilot was a huge success. We surveyed teachers from four of the schools who took part to find out what they thought.
Engaging disengaged readers
All the surveyed teachers fed back that the Comic Book Club was successful in its aim to engage disengaged readers.
One school said;
‘It’s obviously a reading-based club, but they don’t realise that… the secret reading based club’
A significant proportion of pupils taking part in their school’s club were also in receipt of pupil premium (44%) and a further 24% had English as an additional language.
Providing texts the pupils don’t have at home
The Comic Book Club provided pupils with access to texts that they did not have outside of the club, either at home or at school. One teacher said;
‘It was really nice to see them enjoy something that they don’t normally have’.
Resources the schools couldn’t afford
The feedback we received from teachers was unanimous that the resources provided by Bookmark filled a gap, as the cost of resourcing the Comic Book Club is something that schools wouldn’t have been able to afford, especially the quality that we provided.
One school said;
‘We wouldn’t have been able to run the club without the resources. Because we’ve just not got the spare income to provide all those things.’
Session plans
3 out of 4 schools surveyed ‘strongly agreed’ that they felt well equipped to deliver their Comic Book Club sessions. One school said;
‘[We are] just utterly overwhelmed with how successful this was for us’
It was noted that the volume, quality and variety of the texts was instrumental in the success of the club. The children’s reactions to the club were overwhelmingly positive;
‘As soon as they saw the books, they were hooked […] they just adored it’
Additional resources to elevate the club
In addition to books, the schools also received black pens and sketch books which elevated the club and was highlighted in our survey as a key factor in the success of the project.
They were ‘precious’ to pupils and made them feel as though their work was valued. It also helped them take pride in and ownership of their work.
‘In a school where we cannot get glue and blue tack and pencils… their faces lit up when they saw the scrapbooks, the quality pencils and the black marker pens.’
By providing plans for each session of the club, teachers fed back that it was feasible to run the club within their busy weekly schedules.
One teacher said;
‘You’ve done it all for me, I literally just had to be there! It was easy.’
Overall, the club was a great success. Every single teacher surveyed said they will continue to run the Comic Book Club next year.
