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NSW Premier's Reading Challenge — Classroom Resources & Tracker Ideas

Run the NSW Premiers Reading Challenge in your classroom: book counts by stage, tracking templates, picture books, and teacher-made resources for K-6.

Expert guide for Australian primary and secondary school teachers. Published by TeachBuySell.

NSW Premier's Reading Challenge — running it well in a primary classroom

The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is the largest schools-based reading initiative in Australia. It runs annually from late February through to mid-September, and most NSW primary schools enrol every student from Foundation to Year 6. The Challenge itself is simple — students read a set number of books over the year and log them in the online Student Reading Record — but turning that into a sustained, motivating classroom routine is what separates a school where the Challenge thrives from one where it fizzles by the start of Term 2.

This guide is for the NSW classroom teacher running the Challenge with their own class, alongside the school PRC coordinator. It covers the rules in plain English, classroom routines that make the reading happen, picture-book and chapter-book recommendations that consistently work, tracking and accountability ideas that don't drown you in admin, and ways to keep momentum after the early-Term-2 enthusiasm fades.

How the Challenge actually works.

Every year, the NSW Department of Education publishes the official PRC booklist of pre-approved titles. Students read books from that list (or substitute personal-choice books up to a set limit) and log each book in the online reading record. The school PRC coordinator validates the records before the September deadline, and students who complete the Challenge receive a certificate signed by the Premier — the gold and platinum certificates carry real prestige in primary schools.

The number of books required depends on the year level:

  • K-2 Challenge (Foundation, Year 1, Year 2): 30 books in total — at least 20 from the PRC list, plus up to 10 personal-choice books. Many of these can be picture books read aloud at home or by the teacher in class.
  • 3-4 Challenge (Year 3, Year 4): 20 books in total — at least 10 from the PRC list and up to 10 personal-choice books.
  • 5-6 Challenge (Year 5, Year 6): 20 books in total — same split as 3-4.
  • 7-10 Challenge (Years 7, 8, 9 and 10): 20 books in total — same split as 3-4 and 5-6.

From Year 3 upwards, PRC books must be read in English; personal-choice books can be read in a student's home language. K-2 students can have books read aloud to them, and those read-alouds count toward the total — this is critical for early-Foundation students who can't yet read independently.

Classroom routines that make it stick.

The schools where the Challenge works best treat it as a year-long routine rather than a Term 1 splash. A few routines that consistently work:

  • A weekly logging slot. Twenty minutes on a Friday afternoon where every student updates their reading record on the school iPads or laptops. If logging is sporadic, books get forgotten and students fall behind without realising.
  • A class progress board. A simple wall chart showing where each student sits against their target. Avoid rankings — show progress bars, not leaderboards.
  • Read-aloud counts for K-2. A daily picture-book read-aloud during the soft-start or end-of-day slot can clock up 30+ titles for the K-2 Challenge across the year without any student doing solo reading at all. See the decodable-readers and reading-comprehension-activities guides for read-aloud and small-group ideas that work alongside the PRC.
  • A buddy-reading partnership with an older class. Year 5 reading to Year 1, once a week, ticks both classes' Challenge counts and is one of the most-loved routines in NSW primaries.
  • Holiday reading targets. A note home in the second-last week of each term suggesting holiday targets (5 books over a two-week break for K-2; 3 books for 3-6) keeps the count moving without making it feel like a chore.

Tracking without drowning in admin.

The online Student Reading Record is the official log, but most teachers also keep a parallel class-level tracker — a simple spreadsheet or printed grid — so they can see at a glance who's behind. The official record is student-owned; the class tracker is yours, and it's what surfaces the students who quietly stop logging in March and need a chat. PRC coordinators across the state have built classroom tracker templates, and the NSW DoE itself publishes printable PRC bookmarks and posters each year.

For classroom display, a Challenge-themed reading corner with the current PRC list, blank book-review cards, and student work samples builds visible momentum. The book-week-activities page has display ideas that also work for the PRC reading corner — many schools combine the two through Term 3.

Picture books and novels that pull students through.

The PRC list is huge, which is part of the problem. A few classroom-tested anchors most NSW teachers know work:

  • For K-2: any of the Mem Fox, Aaron Blabey, and Pamela Allen catalogue; Australian classics like Possum Magic, Wombat Stew, Diary of a Wombat; the Hairy Maclary series.
  • For Year 3-4: the Treehouse series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (controversial with some teachers but ruthlessly effective at hooking reluctant Year 3 readers); the Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
  • For Year 5-6: Wonder by R. J. Palacio; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series for personal-choice slots; Morris Gleitzman's Once series for higher readers.

The Challenge actively wants students reading widely across genres, so balance fiction with non-fiction picture books and verse novels — they all count. See the novel-study-activities and narrative-writing guides for writing tasks that pair naturally with PRC novels.

Keeping struggling readers in the Challenge.

The Challenge is meant to include every student, but the K-2 reading-aloud allowance and the personal-choice flex are what make this real. Students with reading difficulties can still complete the K-2 Challenge entirely through read-alouds and audiobooks for the first year or two, then transition to short decodable readers for personal-choice slots. The DoE recognises audiobooks as valid for PRC. Talk to your learning-support teacher early in Term 1 about which students need adjusted plans, and capture those plans on the class tracker so they don't get missed at coordinator validation time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books do students need to read for the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge?

K-2 students (Foundation to Year 2) read 30 books in total — at least 20 from the official PRC booklist, with up to 10 personal-choice books. Years 3-4, 5-6, and 7-10 students each read 20 books — at least 10 from the PRC list with up to 10 personal-choice books. K-2 students can have books read aloud to them and still count those toward the total, which is essential for early-Foundation students who are not yet reading independently. Schools must validate each reading record before the September deadline.

When does the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge open and close each year?

The Challenge typically opens in late February and closes for student logging in mid-September. Schools then have a short window to validate completed records before certificates are generated. In practical terms, that gives most NSW classes about six and a half months of active reading time, which works out to roughly one PRC book per fortnight for the K-2 Challenge and one every three weeks for the 3-6 Challenge. The exact opening and closing dates are published each year on the official NSW Department of Education PRC site.

What classroom routines actually keep students on track with the Challenge?

The schools where the Challenge thrives treat it as a year-long routine, not a Term 1 splash. Three things consistently work: a weekly twenty-minute logging slot where every student updates their reading record; a daily picture-book read-aloud for K-2 (which can clock up the entire 30-book Challenge across the year for non-readers); and a buddy-reading partnership with an older or younger class once a week. A class-level tracker spreadsheet — separate from the official record — is what surfaces the students who quietly stop logging in March and need a check-in.

Do audiobooks and books read aloud count toward the Challenge?

Yes for K-2 students — books read aloud to them count, which makes the 30-book target achievable for Foundation students who cannot yet decode independently. From Year 3 upwards, official PRC books must be read in English by the student, with audiobooks accepted where the student also reads along, and personal-choice books readable in a home language. Additional adjustments are available for students with documented reading difficulties — talk to the school PRC coordinator and learning-support teacher early in Term 1, and capture those plans on the class tracker so they are not missed at validation time. The K-2 read-aloud allowance and the personal-choice flex are what keep the Challenge inclusive for every student in the class.