18 May 2009

Headmistress of our Lady's School in Camden Town, Moya Richardson, was delighted when Claire Williams, Lakehouse's Community Development Manager, offered to donate £600 worth of special reading books to help a year 3 class to improve their reading skills.

The pupils had scored the worst results in reading that the school has ever had. Only 50% of these children reached an average level of the government standard - 38% of these children are on free school meals and 53% have English as a second language.

The class had experienced a very unsettled time. Two of the children were suffering with behavioural problems which severely disrupted the learning of the rest of the class, who did not make the level of progress they deserved. The children were in need of extra support in order to catch up. Funds from the literacy budget had been used to buy guided reading material across the school but this class lacked a structured reading scheme.

Lakehouse came to the rescue, donating £600 to buy the new Rigby reading scheme books for the year 3 pupils. Claire Williams returned to the school week later to see how the children were getting along and was presented with a book of thank you notes that the children had made themselves.