On World Book Day, 2 March 2023, Wyvern Academy in Darlington is celebrating receiving £8,000 of funding from The Foyle Foundation, which will enable them to buy 2,500 new books for their students, to a newly refurbished library.

This is all part of a successful focus on literacy across the school, which is part of Consilium Academies. The literacy programme, launched last year, is tailored to each child, has created a reading culture that is now reaping rewards. Last year, the school’s successful focus on reading saw Year 8s jump a year in reading age in just six months.

The Foyle School Library Scheme gives preference to schools which can clearly demonstrate a commitment to renewing and maintaining their library provision in the future. Which is truly the case at Wyvern, as well as refurbishing the library into a thriving and state-of-the-art environment to enjoy the love of reading, a new Director of English and a new librarian has joined the team this year, and a peer-to-peer literacy mentoring programme has also been launched.

As well as stocking up their library with 2,500 new books, on World Book Day Wyvern staff dressed up as their favourite book characters, designed classroom doors around best-selling books, such as The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, as well as a ‘shelfie’ competition where students guessed their teachers’ bookshelves.  

Jonny Willis, Literacy Coordinator and Associate Assistant Headteacher for Quality of Education at Wyvern Academy, said:
“We are so excited to be able to fill our bookshelves with more new books, as we know reading and literacy has such an incredible impact on our students as well as giving them so much enjoyment.

“This World Book Day, we are celebrating our huge successes as part of our literacy programme, which isn’t about just one day but a sustained focus on literacy which has become central to school life here. This programme is going from strength-to-strength thanks to the commitment of our students and teachers alike, as well as support from fantastic organisations like The Foyle Foundation.”