Bedales Prep, Dunhurst awarded 'myON Project of the Week'

A collaborative reading and writing assignment between the English and PE departments at Bedales Prep, Dunhurst has been selected as Renaissance’s myON Project of the Week.

English teacher Melissa Canter devised the assignment for Non-Fiction November as part of a wider initiative to raise the profile of reading at Dunhurst, and it was later spotted by the teaching team at Renaissance after Melissa shared it to the cloud on the myON app.

The team said: “A collaborative reading and writing assignment for ‘Non-Fiction November’ between PE and English departments to increase school reading. Strength in numbers across a school – can’t beat it!”

Renaissance’s myON – a student-centred, personalised literacy environment that gives pupils access to an online library of over 6,000 digital books – has been introduced to the curriculum at Dunhurst this year, and is a key resource in the English department’s drive to raise the profile of reading.

Dunhurst’s Head of English Nichola Gotel explained: “Careful and critical reading is fundamental to any child’s progress; it is a skill that runs through every subject and is an indicator of academic success. This year at Dunhurst, we have introduced an enhanced reading curriculum for the Groups (Years 4-6) to sit alongside the wider English curriculum. This offers children access to an even richer variety of texts. We have also created reading bundles with a range of extracts and articles for pupils in the Blocks (Years 7-8), who also have daily reading time at school.”

Melissa Canter commented: "Planning and delivering our new enriched reading programme is very exciting and the pupils are responding with enthusiasm and interest to the diverse and demanding texts they are being challenged to read and explore."

Dunhurst uses myOn – alongside Accelerated Reader – as a tool for guided research, independent projects and cross-curricular working.

Head of Dunhurst Colin Baty added: “Thank you to Melissa for putting together such an inspiring assignment, which has deservedly been recognised by Renaissance myON. We are very proud of the English department as whole for bringing reading so far to the fore of children’s minds this academic year.”