Greenwich primary selected in pioneering literacy scheme

by Our Staff Writer | Greenwich

Hawksmoor primary school is to share its expertise in teaching pupils to read, the Government has announced.

Hawksmoor primary school,
Thamesmead.
(Credit: Hawksmoor).

Only eight schools across the country were selected to take part – all of them chosen because of their excellent track record in teaching reading and leading improvement.

The Thamesmead school was invited by the Government to bid to take part in the new scheme, through which schools with a strong track record in the teaching of reading will develop a programme of guidance and mentoring for teachers in other schools. 

School Reform Minister Nick Gibb announced details earlier this week of the scheme, which will see each school offered £10,000 to help them spread their expertise. The aim is to ensure that all schools across the country have the expertise and resources to support children from an early age in mastering the basic skills required to develop as readers.

The selection of Hawksmoor is the latest illustration of the success by Greenwich schools in helping children to read. In reading tests at age 7 (Key Stage 1) Greenwich schools consistently perform above the national average.

Executive Headteacher Briony Brammer said: “Hawksmoor has a very strong commitment to helping our pupils to become fluent readers and to develop a love of reading from an early age. In the early years of school, we place a strong emphasis on helping pupils become confident in the basic building blocks of phonics, through which children understand the relationship between the letters on the page, and the sounds that they represent.

“The success of our methods is borne out in the confidence our children have in their reading - at all levels in the school - and in their enjoyment of books and stories.

“We receive tremendous support from parents, who recognise the important role that they have in helping their children to build confidence with their reading.

“We are delighted that the Government has chosen us for this scheme, and hope that we’ll be able to offer some help to schools in other parts of the South-East, in bringing such an approach into their own teaching methods.”

Cllr John Fahy, Deputy Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “Congratulations to Hawksmoor in being selected to take part in this scheme. Like all of our primary schools, Hawksmoor does tremendous work in helping children to develop a love of reading – and it’s great that the school will be playing a role in helping spread that success to schools in other parts of the country."

“We have a strong tradition in Greenwich of supporting successful heads like Briony to share their expertise with neighbouring schools. This collaborative approach has helped ensure that our primary schools are now among the best performing in the whole country.”

Hawksmoor will initially work in partnership with six neighbouring primary schools to help them develop strategies to improve their phonics teaching. The schools selected to work with Hawksmoor are in Bexley and Medway.