17 June 2022
A Year 6 student from Down Ampney Primary School today had the opportunity to showcase her work in front of national children’s authors at a Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils event organised by Cheltenham Festivals.
The event saw Milly Baker reading her story in front of nearly 1000 pupils from across Gloucestershire, one of only a handful of students from the county selected to do so.
Milly wrote a continuation of the Carnegie Medal shortlisted novel October October, and amongst the audience at The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, hearing her read it out was the book’s author, Katya Balen.
The event followed a 24-hour sponsored readathon held by Down Ampney pupils in March that raised over £1000 for new books for the school’s library and attracted national attention, including congratulations from Katya herself.
Down Ampney Headteacher, Rebecca Gray said: “This was a proud moment for the school and we were delighted to see Down Ampney represented at such a major event. One of our key values is “Everyone Achieving” and what Milly has accomplished is a great example of the hard work and creativity we see from all our pupils.”
“The support we have received from Katya and many others, including for our recent readathon, has been wonderful and a real inspiration to the children. Well done and thank you to everyone.”
Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils (RTRP) is a national network of twenty-two teacher reading groups designed to inspire children to read for pleasure, because research shows that children who read for pleasure experience high levels of well-being, engage in learning and are successful in life. For more information about RTRP please visit: https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/rtrp
