20 local nursery, primary and secondary schools have signed the Bradford Schools Literacy Pledge, committing to an increased focus on literacy in their schools and settings.
The Bradford Schools Literacy Pledge, which we have developed as part of our Bradford Stories campaign in the city, asks schools to commit to improving literacy in three key areas: in their overall school strategy, in their community engagement and in the classroom day-to-day.
At an event at Bradford City Hall, one nursery, 13 primary and six secondary schools pledged to undertake 10 different actions across the three key areas, with a further eight schools also committing to sign the pledge. Actions include running regular story sessions for parents, completing an annual review of school reading provision and identifying a school governor to focus on literacy.
Attendees at the event heard speeches from Horton Park Primary Assistant Head teacher Shahnaz Bi, who spoke about her experience running the Our Stories poetry programme, while a group of her pupils gave performances of two poems they had written.
Michael Jameson, Strategic Director of Children’s Services also discussed the challenges facing Bradford’s schools and the Education Covenant’s contribution to mobilising partnerships to help overcome these. Representatives from Bradford Literature Festival, Bradford Libraries, the National Science and Media Museum and the Calderdale Excellence Partnership also addressed the schools about opportunities to work together.
Schools that sign the pledge receive a year of National Literacy Trust membership for free, which gives them access to a host of tools and resources to help them improve literacy provision throughout the school.
Imran Hafeez, Manager of the National Literacy Trust Hub in Bradford, said:
“We’re delighted that so many schools have already signed the Bradford Schools Literacy Pledge. It’s a great opportunity to highlight and make a public commitment to the brilliant work many of them are undertaking to inspire pupils and improve their literacy provision in support of the Bradford Stories campaign. A focus on literacy across all subjects is vital to help pupils develop the skills they need to do well throughout school and in later life. We’re looking forward to working with schools to help them fulfil the pledge and we hope that more schools will be inspired to make this commitment to literacy.”
Schools who want to sign the Bradford Schools Literacy Pledge can still do so by emailing bradford@literacytrust.org.uk.