This year (2023-2024) The Corinium Education Trust is working closely with a wider group of schools in the South Cotswolds to promote reading. This collaborative Year of Reading project, ably steered by Rachael Scott, our School Improvement Lead (Primary), involves other partners and aims to ensure all pupils can read at least in line with their chronological age and do so for pleasure too!

 

‘This is just the beginning! As all teachers know, we learn best from the successful practice of others. Taking part in a project which enables local schools to ‘magpie’ teaching strategies, share effective practice and foster a love of Reading is a privilege. Throughout the year children will be inspired by authors, share their favourite literature and celebrate reading. Meanwhile, their teachers will be working on action research projects. These will be evaluated and the impact shared to further develop the teaching of reading in future years.’ Rachael Scott, School Improvement Lead (Primary).

 

Following the soft launch of our local ‘Year of Reading’ which was generously hosted by The Barn Theatre in May 2023, we have secured additional funding to support this critical initiative. This will help primary and secondary school teachers encourage and support reluctant and disadvantaged readers, which, in turn, will help them access the wider curriculum and fulfil richer lives.

 

‘It has been an absolute pleasure to see this project develop from an initial idea inspired by Roy Blatchford at our local conference in November 2022 to the rich and diverse programme of engaging reading activities that are being trialled and pioneered across a wide group of schools this academic year. The professionalism and commitment of the teachers and school leaders involved is highly commendable and I am confident that their enthusiasm and practice will draw in even the most reluctant readers.’ Chiquita Henson, Trust Lead (CEO), The Corinium Education Trust.

 

In July, we were delighted to learn that our bid for support from Gloucestershire County Council’s ‘Levelling Up Disadvantage’ fund was successful. This financial resource will ensure participating schools have the capacity to engage in and evaluate the impact of their reading-focused action research. This will help us to identify and apply strong and effective practice and strengthen outcomes in reading across all schools. Schools involved in the project have each taken a different aspect of teaching reading and to help us measure the impact of our work together over the course of the year, we are using common assessments. These will identify pupils’ starting points and record their progress.

 

Reading is a core part of any school’s curriculum and is an important life skill. However, we want to ensure all children become life-long readers for pleasure. We aim to enrich their experience of reading and to provide encouragement and inspiration by introducing them to a rich and diverse range of books and some familiar and much-loved authors. This takes us beyond the scope of our current school budgets as education funding is extremely tight and headteachers and their teams are, therefore, necessarily focused on the core essentials.

 

To further aid engagement in this critical reading project and to enable our most disadvantaged pupils to take part in enrichment activities which will expand their horizons, we are immensely grateful to the trustees of The Winstone Charitable Trust for their significant contribution to the programme. This will enable pupils to take part in wider reading opportunities and enrichment activities, especially those who are least exposed to reading at home and have otherwise limited access to cultural events.

 

‘The Winstone Trust is pleased to provide the funding for this important initiative by The Corinium Education Trust to bring together schools in Cirencester and the South Cotswolds for this ‘Year of Reading’. This project will focus particularly on disadvantaged pupils and those children with the lowest reading assessments, but it is sad to see that in today’s world it requires private charitable funds to run such an important project. The Corinium Education Trust is to be congratulated in stepping up to this challenge.’ Dr Andrew Ives, Trustee, The Winstone Trust.

 

As a direct consequence of this additional funding, we are able to ensure that the least experienced readers across a wide group of schools in Cirencester and the South Cotswolds are being supported. Many are participating in ‘Reading Stars’ led by the team from Forest Green Rovers. They, and others, are also being given the opportunity to participate in events at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Stroud Book Festival, both in person and virtually.

 

Pupils at Down Ampney C of E Primary School are enjoying ‘Reading Stars’:

‘We have learnt about skimming and scanning as well as a discussion about the purposes to read.’ ‘We have chatted about which books we enjoy reading and why.’  'Other things that we have discussed include why sometimes when we read aloud it can seem muddled in our head.’  ‘The men who run our sessions are very kind and listen to our opinions and give us all a chance to speak.’  ‘We have some activities to do between the sessions and we really like doing these as it gives us something to talk about at the start of the next session.’ 

On Monday 4 September 2023, staff in each of the Corinium Education Trust’s schools returned after the summer break, although many had been in over the summer to prepare for the new school year. Areas of Siddington C of E Primary School have been brightened up with fresh paint and, after nearly a year of roofing works, staff areas at Cirencester Deer Park School have also been refreshed.

 

Our Inset (in-service training) Day in each school focused on our shared priorities for the term ahead, introduced our new management information system, Bromcom, and provided updates on ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023.’ New staff were introduced and our new Headteacher at Siddington C of E Primary School seized the opportunity to work with her team to set out their expectations and within the first week they all took to the water to bond while paddleboarding!

 

At Siddington C of E Primary School the staff welcomed their new staffroom which was created with reused and upcycled goods and plenty of teamwork. The children are excited to be back with their friends and teachers:

‘I have already played a few games of table tennis and can already tell that I will be losing - a lot. During the afternoon, the children are excited to tell me their summer stories whilst enjoying the daily mile. I am very proud of how the children have settled into a routine. Even our youngest members settled remarkably well into lessons on their first morning.’  Louise Lennox, Headteacher, Siddington C of E Primary School.

 

Staff at Chesterton Primary School also faced temporary changes to the school’s learning environment owing to the on-going refurbishment, but, while initially daunted by the task, everyone pulled together to help ensure the school was ready for the teaching and learning on Tuesday 5 September. One teacher was especially delighted:

‘The Reception Class has been beautifully refurbished to create a welcoming and flexible learning environment that allows the children to access both outside and inside spaces independently. It’s lovely to be next door to Year 1 and Year 2 as it will help the children to feel part of the wider school community.’

 

All pupils across the Trust were welcomed back to school on Tuesday 5 September 2023 and special care was taken to support those making the transition from Pre-school to Reception and from Year 6 to Year 7. Siddington C of E Primary School were delighted to celebrate 100% attendance on the first day of term.

 

Pupils and staff at Kemble Primary School also had something to celebrate. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the school and special events are planned: 

‘We are looking forward to holding our tea party for past pupils and staff to commemorate our 150th anniversary. This will be an opportunity for our pupils to find out about the history of Kemble School and share some insights into education in 2023.’ Emma Morrogh-Ryan, Headteacher, Kemble Primary School.

 

Emma Morrogh-Ryan and her team are also excited about the term ahead:

‘As usual, this year has begun with our big question. This enables our pupils to think about how we can meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This term we are thinking about SDG 13 Climate Action, ‘Who does climate change affect?’ All classes began studying the same text in English lessons, ‘Flooded’ by Mariajo Ilustrajo. To aid everyone’s understanding, the school has been transformed into a flood zone as we explore the themes of coming together and community.’ 

 

Owing to the heatwave in the first week back, Headteacher, Richard Clutterbuck and his team at Cirencester Deer Park School, made an exception to the normal uniform guidelines and pupils were able to wear their PE kits if they chose to. This provided welcome respite and helped get the new school year off to a great start:

‘I was pleased to welcome our pupils back to school on Tuesday 5 September 2023. Our pupils in Year 8 to Year 11 have quickly settled back into the routines of school, seamlessly picking up on our school values of Trust, Kindness, and Determination. Our new pupils in Year 7 have made an extremely positive impression on all our staff and have brought a smiley, but steely determination to their learning.’ Richard Clutterbuck, Headteacher, Cirencester Deer Park School.