Innovative teachers receive awards for Reading for Pleasure

The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2022, in association with The Open University’s Reading for Pleasure Community Coalition and the UK Literacy Association (UKLA), were announced on 1 October 2022.

The awards were launched in 2017 to recognise teachers and schools whose research-informed practices make a real difference to children’s reading for pleasure (RfP). This links closely with the purpose OU’s Reading for Pleasure community initiative, which supports a vibrant professional community of teachers, student teachers, librarians and English leaders in order to nurture lifelong readers.

This year’s entries saw teachers at schools across the length and breadth of the UK united in a mission to get children and their families reading.

2022 winners include:

Community Reading Champion - Amanda Hanton, Leicestershire County Council The Virtual School
This winning submission focused on hard-to-reach and vulnerable children by creating an exhibition of artwork inspired by books, which was available as a pop-up exhibition in Leicester’s main shopping centre; an interactive online exhibition; and a travelling exhibition in community spaces.

School Reading Champion - Lucas Maxwell, Glenthorne High School, Sutton
Lucas engaged pupils and staff through a book award scheme which put children in control of their reading journey and as a result there has been a significant increase in book borrowing from the school library.

Experienced Teacher - Amy Greatrex, South Wilford Endowed C of E Primary School, Nottingham
This winning entry successfully built a reading community in school as well as in the home, focusing on the power of choice to engage children to ready, and a class voting system with the use of pebbles. Sarah Bell of The Hold Primary School, Skellingthorpe, Lincoln, was also highly commended for the Experienced Teacher this year.

Whole School (joint winner) - Georgie Lax, Strarcross Primary, Exeter, Devon
A second impressive win for Georgie Lax after winning the Experienced Teacher category in 2021. This year’s whole school award established a Change Team of passionate teachers and teaching assistants from across all year groups with an aim of increasing knowledge of current and new authors, focusing on poetry.

Whole School (joint winner) - Claire Nelson, Cheadle Catholic Infant School, Cheadle
Our other joint winner of the Whole School award, this entry showed clear aims building teachers’ knowledge of books, diversifying the range on offer, pupil book choice, working with local libraries and great engagement of parents.

Find out more about The Open University’s Reading for Pleasure Community Coalition and the 2022 awards on the OU RfP website.