Canford School 10th Anniversary Gift to Bourne Academy Reading Programme
In celebration of their ten-year successful partnership, Canford School has kindly agreed to make The Bourne Academy a beneficiary of its new sponsorship campaign – Lady Charlotte’s Walk.
Whilst building a new library in the grounds, Canford has launched a fundraising initiative whereby members of the Canford community can sponsor a stone on Lady Charlotte’s Walk leading up to the new library.
The stones will be engraved and, for every sponsored stone that will line the edges of the walkway, Canford has kindly pledged to donate a book to The Bourne Academy’s reading programme.
Reflecting on The Academy’s reading programme, Mrs Rachel Bennet said:
“The Bourne Academy is in the second year of the tutor time reading programme, adopted on the basis of Doug Lemov’s research and the work of the Greenshaw Learning Trust. The purposes of the programme are to expand student vocabulary, develop a life-long love of reading, support curriculum development and explore how literature has evolved in line with social and political change.
“The texts chosen for this programme all offer a high value of ‘cultural capital’; Animal Farm by George Orwell, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Face by Benjamin Zephaniah and a collection of Short Stories by authors including Graham Greene, Chaucer and D H Lawrence. Cultural capital is described by the government as literature that is the very best work of British authors across the generations. By the time students have read the 24 selected texts, they will have read over 2 million words.
“We are delighted with the success of the reading programme to date. Students feel very proud that they have now read classic texts by such brilliant writers as George Orwell and Charles Dickens. Students have also expressed how proud they feel of their tutors for stepping outside their own comfort zone by reading aloud to their tutees. The reading programme will ensure that our students experience over 5000 minutes of quality literature every school year. How amazing is that! An enormous thank you to Canford School for supporting us in this scheme.”
Canford Headmaster Ben Vessey commented:
“We value our links with The Bourne Academy tremendously and there is a great mutual benefit to the staff and pupils at both our schools from our collaboration. I am delighted that we are able to support you in your reading programme in this way. We place a similar emphasis on literacy at Canford and are looking forward to pupils from both our schools meeting in person again very soon for our joint Book Club.”
Whilst undoubtedly bringing benefits to The Academy, the sponsored stones will also result in raised funds going towards Canford’s Martin Marriott Foundation for bursaries at Canford; the Foundation awards opportunities for transformational bursaries to deserving young people who otherwise would not be able to join due to financial reasons.
The Bourne Academy has been sponsored by Canford School since 2010 and is this year celebrating its 10th Anniversary. The successful partnership is a beacon of success in UK education and enables The Academy to gain invaluable guidance, expertise and support from Canford School.