• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Are there aspiring chefs in your classroom? £500 prize Categories are primary, secondary and family. mone y Send us your favourite recipe with a photograph of Pupils at your It will be published as an online recipe card and it could school can enter also earn the young chef a place at our Masterchef-style now! Can your walking bus or school choir sing in tune? If so, then get a gang together to enter our annual song contest! You can enter as a walk to school group, a school choir or simply a group of friends. You can stick to the original lyrics, or even adapt them to sing about why it’s good to Walk to School. This year’s song is... song in a professional recording studio and the chance to “Walking on Sunshine” perform at our Walk to School events. by Katrina and the Waves Kent Literacy Awards Your evening will be hosted by Simon Dolby from the KM Charity Team and Nicola Everett from KMFM. Welcome Cllr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education & Health Reform, Kent County Council Terry Waite, humanitarian and author Presentation of area awards Ashford Bexley Canterbury Dartford & Gravesham Maidstone Medway Swale Tonbridge & Malling Congratulations Penny Bill - Kent County Council Terry Waite Presentation of Overall Awards Best use of History to develop Speaking and Listening skills Best use of Drama to develop Speaking and Listening skills Best topic to develop Writing skills Best School Library Best initiative to encourage Reading for Pleasure Best initiative to develop Speaking & Listening skills Best whole-school initiative to develop Writing Best cross-curricular initiative Our thanks go to: Blessing by Blé for their decorative Independent Music Productions for assistance with this event. their technical help with this event. Kent Literacy Awards Ashford Victoria Road Primary School - Best use of poetry to develop cross-curricular writing Bexley Gravel Hill Primary School - Best use of history to develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills Willow Bank Primary School, Bexley - Best promotion of reading for pleasure Canterbury Briary Primary School - Best initiative to encourage reading for pleasure St John’s CEP School - Best use of drama to develop speaking and listening skills St John’s CEP School - Best initiative to support EAL families Dartford & Gravesham Fleetdown Primary School - Best school library Westgate Primary School - Best scheme to excite reluctant readers Riverview Infant School - Best initiative to develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills Wilmington Academy - Best current affairs topic to develop writing Wilmington Academy - Best book week theme Maidstone New Line Learning Academy - Best scheme to excite reluctant readers Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford - Best cross-curricular writing initiative Medway Brompton Westbrook Primary School - Best initiative to support EAL families Bradfields Academy - Best initiatives to support reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in students with special needs Kent Literacy Awards The Rowans AP Academy - Best scheme to excite reluctant readers Kingfisher Primary School, Medway - Best school library Swale Lansdowne Primary School - Best promotion of reading for pleasure Rose Street Primary School - Best initiative to develop writing Tonbridge & Malling The Malling School - Best initiative to develop speaking & listening skills Kings Hill Primary School - Best use of drama to develop speaking and listening skills The Hayesbrook School - Best scheme to excite reluctant readers Special Award The Rotary Club - Most engaging writing competition 2017 Winners Ashford Area Winners Best Use of Poetry to Develop Cross-Curricular Writing Victoria Road Primary School Victoria Road Primary developed a project using the poetry of the First World War, linking it to Armistice Week as well as curriculum work relating to the Second World War. It examined issues such as patriotism and humanitarianism, focusing closely on the anti- war messages of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The impact on pupils’ writing skills has been dramatic, with children encouraged to experiment with a wide range of language and stylistic devices. The project also develops pupils’ reading comprehension, and is credited with helping foster higher-level thinking skills in the pupils. The project serves as an excellent model for the rest of the school, encouraging teachers to explore more and more sophisticated forms of poetry. Bexley Area Winners Best Use of History to Develop Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Skills Gravel Hill Primary School After consulting pupils to try to discover why their writing standards in history were not consistent with the work they did in English lessons, teachers learned that children were struggling to find inspiration because the topics studied in history were so far removed from their own experience. To overcome this barrier, the school initiated historical themed days introduced by a local history expert, with children encouraged to wear period costume and participate in historical activities. Parents encouraged their children to pursue the approach at home, helping with research, extra reading and making costumes, and the school is considering using the same approach in RE and geography lessons. To compensate for a lack of available funding, the school has started to use a free, local artefact-lending service. Pupils’ response to the scheme has been unanimously positive, and at its end their standard of writing was found to be above the KS2 national average. Best Promotion of Reading for Pleasure Willow Bank Primary Building on work prioritising improvement to the teaching of reading the year before, Willow Bank set out to encourage a love of books among its pupils, with the aim of setting them on the path to becoming lifelong readers. The school allocated funding to each class teacher to create inviting book corners for reading, and spent £7,500 on books. Willow Bank also created a communal enchanted-forest story area where classes could go for adult-led story-time sessions, and the school has used Buster’s Book Club to provide incentives for children to continue their reading at home. With literacy levels low among parents, the school is working to establish reading partnership events with parents and children, and it has started hosting workshops to encourage reluctant boy readers with poet Neal Zetter. The school has succeeded in transforming pupils’ perception of reading, which is now seen as a cool thing to do, and attainment levels have been transformed as a consequence. Canterbury Area Winners Best Initiative to Encourage Reading for Pleasure Briary Primary School With few pupils being users of the local library, Briary Primary developed its Book Shed to provide a free book-lending service and to engage with parents about boosting child literacy in a non-threatening way. Every single child visited the shed during the first day of a Big Briary Book Swap. Children are given prizes for reading at home, a Read Aloud month encouraged reading together, and parents are encouraged to come into the school to read with or to children in a commitment-free fashion. To encourage greater family support of reading at home, the school set up training sessions with parents, with participants acting as school-gate ambassadors and encouraging others to follow their lead. And there has been a marked improvement in reading performance among Pupil Premium Children. Best Use of Drama to Develop Speaking and Listening Skills St John’s C of E Primary With the twin aims of developing new learning approaches and promoting online safety, St John’s set up a scheme in which children would make films designed to encourage risk-fee use of digital technology. Children discussed their use of computers, social media and apps before writing storyboards and scripts, practising their acting skills and then making the films. The project was a fun and immersive cross-curricular learning activity, with children developing a range of teamwork and communication skills. The films have been shared with other schools in the area for use as teaching aids and digital safeguarding tools, are accessible on St John’s website so parents and pupils can view them whenever they wish, and they will remain a part of the primary’s safeguarding resources for years to come. St John’s now intends to extend the use of drama and film to different subjects and themes, with Year 6 pupils already producing a film about global warming. Canterbury Area Winners Best Initiative to Support Families with English as an Additional Language St John’s Primary In recent years St John’s has experienced a sharp increase in admissions of pupils with very little or no English. The school’s First Steps in English initiative is designed to accelerate speaking, listening and understanding so pupils can access the curriculum as soon as possible. Pupils with English as an Additional Language – or EAL –work with a specialist EAL teaching assistant in a designated EAL room each morning. The children take part in fun activities, using puppets, music, song, drama, cookery, craft and outings, to learn the basics of English.The majority spend the first four terms at school working in this way, and most are working with other pupils of their age within a year, when they continue to receive support from the EAL or teaching assistant. Following pupil feedback about the problems relatives might be experiencing adjusting to the English language and lifestyle, the EAL team has also set up groups with families to teach them basic language skills and connect them to the school community. Dartford and Gravesham Area Winners Best School Library Fleetdown Primary Wanting to reinstall a school library but faced by space and financial constraints, Fleetdown Primary had to think outside the box. It purchased two fairy-tale themed wooden lodges for Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils, which were installed during the summer of 2017.

Load more

  22

Copy Link