One of the town's diverse primary schools has been recognised in a national publication for its approach to teaching and encouraging reading.

Westcourt Primary School in Gravesend has been held up as an example of "best practice" following its inclusion in the forthcoming 2021 edition of The Parliamentary Review.

The publication is produced by the government and sent to thousands of policy makers as a blueprint for others to follow.

An article from the school in Silver Road was selected among entries to represent the South of England and demonstrate best practice for reading.

The school converted to academy status when it joined the Primary First Trust in February 2017 and Mags Sexton was made acting head in September of the same year.

Her appointment coincided with a raft of changes required to improve upon the quality of education on offer.

The academy has rapidly expanded pupil numbers in recent years and now teaches 321 students. It is expected there will be 420 children in the school by 2023.

Of these, just under 20 ethnic groups are represented with one third of the school population counting English as a second language.

This presented a specific set of challenges with barriers presented to children entering into the system with language skills of a considerably younger child.

In response the school has redesigned its English curriculum, incorporating high-quality texts and has implemented a series of innovative programmes to increase reading engagement and attainment.

These initiatives include Half Millionaire and Millionaire Readers which allows pupils to see how many words they have read in a year, language walls to encourage pupils to expand their vocabulary and reward afternoons for individuals and classes reaching their reading targets.

Despite the pandemic, the school has continued to encourage reading at home through an online platform with more than 1,000 books that pupils can access for free.

As a result, 292 of 300 children participated and read an average of 48 pages a week.

Mags Sexton, head teacher at Westcourt, said: “It is an honour to have been selected as an example of best practice and for our school to have been featured in the Parliamentary Review.

"At Westcourt we work to ensure our children are equipped with a passion for learning and have the skills to succeed and we believe reading is fundamental to this."

“Since joining the Trust in 2017, our brilliant team of teachers and staff have been on a mission to transform the attitude around reading.

"Through support from the Trust and the introduction of innovative schemes, we have seen our pupils flourish and their confidence grow. This has resulted in huge progress with both our pupils’ range of vocabulary and understanding of language.”

Andrew Moorhouse, CEO of The Primary First Trust, said: “To see Westcourt upheld as an example of excellence by a national and prestigious publication is fantastic.

"We have worked closely with the school since it joined the Trust in 2017 and Mags and her team have achieved incredible success, providing high-quality education for their pupils and community.”

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