Pupils from Powers Hall Academy with Priti Patel MP. The Academy will be taking part in the 2019 Get Witham Reading campaign.
MP’s Get Witham Reading 2019 campaign gets underway
Witham’s crusading MP, Priti Patel, has launched her eighth annual school literacy campaign ‘Get Witham Reading 2019’. Her campaign was first launched in 2012, when children’s literacy levels in the constituency fell below the national average, 1 in 6 pupils were leaving school without achieving the literacy of an 11 year old.
In this year’s event, each school can choose their own theme and every pupil at the schools taking part will receive a certificate from Priti Patel to confirm their participation. In addition, one pupil, nominated by each school, will receive a trophy for their improved reading skills. The Witham MP will present the trophies on Friday, 12th July 2019, the final day of this year’s campaign.
Locally, over the last seven years, literacy levels have seen significant improvement. In 2018, the average number of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading at KS2 was 77%, while the national and regional average were 75% and 76% respectively. In the Witham constituency in 2018, eight schools achieved well above average and above average results in KS2.
Priti Patel said: “It is my pleasure and privilege to hold this campaign every year. There is no greater gift that you can give to a young person than the ability to read. I am delighted that over the last seven years, literacy standards in my constituency have improved and are now above the national average. I consider this to be one of the most important achievements of my time as the MP for Witham and I would encourage more local schools to sign up for this year’s campaign.”
Eight Witham schools have so far committed to taking part in 2019, these are; Powers Hall Academy, Templars Academy, Silver End Academy, Howbridge Church of England Primary School, Terling Primary School, Tiptree Heath Primary School, St Luke’s Primary School and White Notley Primary School.