Well done to the Year 13 Reading Leaders who have been accredited for their work mentoring our younger students. The group, comprising Simran Bhandal, Zoe Bredenkamp, Dean Brooks, Zaneta Domanowska, Conor Judge, Alex Kularatnam, Zoe Mair, Jamie Matthews, Charlotte Sealy and Anna Wilkinson, have all been awarded their Level 2 OCN accreditation in Supporting Reading Skills.

The students volunteered and had training before being assigned a specific student to work with. Diane Weatherby from Reading Matters, who runs the scheme, congratulated the students on the excellent quality of their portfolios and gave them with very positive written feedback. She thanked them on behalf of Reading Matters for the work they have done encouraging and engaging younger students in reading.

Jamie Matthews said: “It boosted my confidence and I liked being able to help the younger students with their skills.’ Anna Wilkinson said: ‘It was an opportunity to get creative with the techniques you used in order to help the student learn. It was also really satisfying watching them become more confident in their reading skills.’ Zoe Bredenkamp is planning to become a primary teacher. She said: ‘This has given me a bit of an insight into what is involved as you had to plan the sessions. For each you would have to prepare three different types of reading materials. At first it was challenging but you get to learn what sort of things your students liked.”

Mrs Sandra Childs, who co-ordinates the programme at Brooke Weston Academy presented the students with their OCN certificates. She said: “AlI would like to add my congratulations and thank them all for giving so generously of their time each week to encourage our younger students, as well as focusing on their own studies. They are a credit to the Academy and it is wonderful that they have achieved this qualification. Well done to each one.”