The Festival of Education is one of the UK’s leading education events, bringing together thousands of educators, school leaders and sector experts to share ideas, celebrate innovation and explore the future of education.

Representing Co-op Academies Trust, colleagues from Co-op Academy Oakwood delivered sessions focused on the power of reading and storytelling in the classroom, sharing their experiences and expertise with education professionals from across the country.

Celebrating the impact of Faster Read at Co-op Academy Oakwood

Executive Headteacher Rimah Aasim and Claire Spivey presented ‘The Impact of Faster Read in Primary’, sharing Oakwood’s journey and the impact the approach has had on students’ reading experiences.
Following conversations at the Racial Equity Networking Dinner, education expert Mary Myatt visited Co-op Academy Oakwood to see the impact of Faster Read first-hand.

During her visit, Mary observed lessons where students were fully immersed in the stories they were reading. She later spoke with a group of students, who impressed her with their detailed knowledge of books and stories, as well as their enthusiasm and passion for reading.

The visit led to Rimah and Claire being invited to present alongside Mary Myatt at the Festival of Education, sharing how Faster Read has helped students develop a deeper connection with reading.

During their session, they explored how reading with prosody, passion and purpose can have a significant impact on students, not only supporting outcomes, but also improving their love of reading, behaviour, stamina for learning, engagement and empathy.

Rimah said:

“It was a great honour to be invited to present alongside Mary Myatt about the impact of Faster Read for the students of Oakwood. Sharing the journey and the impact with other educators demonstrated the power of reading and how just reading with prosody and passion has an impact on the children we teach.”

Sharing the power of stories across the curriculum

Director of Primary Curriculum for West Yorkshire, Lee Mullen, also represented Co-op Academies Trust at the event with his session ‘The Effective Use of Stories Across the Curriculum’.

Lee’s session explored how stories can be used as one of six powerful ways to share new knowledge with students in the classroom. Delegates explored how stories can support learning, alongside the importance of using hinge points as effective assessment opportunities and designing tasks that allow students to make meaningful connections.

Reflecting on the experience, Lee shared how valuable it was to work alongside educators from across the country and hear from leading voices within education.

Lee said:

“It was such a wonderful experience to work with educators from across the country, and see my hard work validated by such a wide range of experts. I had the opportunity to listen to other talks, including from Sir Michael Oliver, as well as network with some really influential people in the sector.

“Representing Co-op at such a prestigious event is one of the proudest moments of my career so far.”

Sharing practice to make a difference

The Festival of Education was a fantastic opportunity for colleagues to share the excellent work taking place across Co-op Academies Trust and demonstrate the expertise, creativity and commitment of our teams.

By sharing our approaches, learning from one another and celebrating the successes of our academies, we continue to work together to make a positive difference for our students.