Over the past two years, The Katherine Jacobs Trust has funded two projects delivered by LPAP, the Loughborough Primary Academies Partnership. This group of local schools, many of which are situated in disadvantaged areas, requested funding for two RISE Projects to develop Resilience, Independence and Self Esteem in Year 3 and Year 4 pupils.
Through a series of enjoyable activities, funny stories, and creative writing challenges, two well-known authors have worked to encourage these children to have confidence and pride, in themselves and what they can produce. Prior to the project, many of the participants found it difficult to relate to others and they sometimes struggled with writing and transferring their ideas to paper.
At the end of the project, each pupil was given a signed copy of Andy Cope’s book “Diary of a Brilliant Kid”.
Evaluation of these sessions (by the pupils themselves and from their schools) showed very good outcomes in terms of increased participation in class, increased self confidence in social interactions, more positive approaches to creative writing and a desire to learn new things.
Our Trustees agreed that our funding had been well used and we all hope that this project, across nine schools, has furthered our aim, on Kathy’s behalf, to ‘raise achievement in primary school pupils’.
