Reading Project

Gearies Primary school, in collaboration with the other schools in the Gants Hill Partnership, which includes, Fullwood Primary, St Augustine’s Catholic Primary, Cranbrook Primary and Highlands Primary, has been awarded a prestigious grant from the London Schools Excellence Fund to develop a research project into improving children’s attainment and progress in reading.

The school has been exploring an approach called “Reciprocal Reading” for a year, supported by Dr Tennent from the University of East London. This involves using high quality reading books to develop children’s comprehension skills. The approach is based on current research and has been replicated in a number of schools across the country.

The school is one of only 20 across the whole of London to receive a Cohort 2 grant to develop aspects of best practice.

Bob Drew, Head Teacher said: 'We are delighted to have been successful in the grant application process to the London Schools Excellence Fund. Our aim is to raise standards of teaching, improve children’s attainment and their progress in reading. This substantial grant will allow the schools to progress with the research and to recruit more partner schools from the local authority to join the project over the next two years. We also hope that increased networking with other schools in Redbridge will have a positive impact.'

The London Schools Excellence Fund has been set up by the Mayor of London to help drive up standards in schools, as part of his mission to ensure young Londoners have access to the highest quality education.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'Parents in London want to know that the school their child attends will give them the best start in life and access to top universities and careers. That's why we're making funding available for high performing schools and institutions to share their knowledge and expertise with others, to raise expectations, bring academic rigour and improve attainment for more pupils. With the London Schools Excellence Fund our goal is to turbo-charge the system so that all schoolchildren in the capital have the best possible education.'