An Abbotsford middle school has received a $70,000 literacy grant from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation.
Colleen and Gordie Howe Middle School is among 30 schools across Canada to receive the grants this year.
The foundation provides grants each year to underfunded elementary schools to replace resources that are outdated or damaged beyond repair.
Since 2015, Howe Middle School’s student population has grown by more than 26.5 per cent, states a press release.
With this growth, demographics have shifted considerably. There has been a three per cent increase in students with special needs and the number of English language learners, as well as a two per cent increase in the number of Indigenous learners.
The Literacy Fund Grant will help students with diverse backgrounds and needs get access to books that will help them further their education.
This year, to promote literacy and reading and to cultivate a greater sense of school community, the school implemented a School Wide Read Aloud.
The novel No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen was read aloud by classroom teachers in each room of the school.
To date, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has committed more than $33 million to more than 3,00 schools.
Throughout COVID-19, the foundation donated more than 140,000 books to 170 communities.
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