Banburyshire school celebrates ministerial praise

In a letter sent to head teacher Laura Concannon by MP Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools Standards, the school was praised for all of its students reaching or exceeding the expected standards in reading at the end of Key Stage 2.

The MP added: "This means that for achievement in reading St Mary's Catholic Primary School is in the top one per cent of primary schools in the country.

"Thank you for your work in continuing the drive towards higher academic standards and congratulations again to you and your staff for your commitment and success."

Laura said: "This pass success is due to the small class sizes and the intensity in which we teach reading. We have this year reviewed our approach to the teaching of reading and introduced a new scheme called Read Write Inc.

"This enables us to teach the children in targeted small groups. This then keeps the sizes small throughout the whole of the school. We at St Mary’s excite the children about their reading and writing through author visits, creative writing workshops, Library Loan scheme and much, much more.

She added: "Our aim for our school is that: ‘Every child can read’."