A BLACKBURN primary school has been named as the first in the country to win a prestigious education award.

St Silas Primary has been awarded The Excellence in Literacy Quality Mark from the International Literacy Centre.

The mark is given to schools that show they are doing everything possible to facilitate a literate future for every child.

Schools must complete a long and detailed self-assesment before they can be considered for the award, and inspectors will then go into lessons to assess how effectively the school is encouraging literacy in pupils.

Headteacher Hillary Hinchliff said the school was ‘really pleased’ to be the first to be recognised.

She said: “We were really, really pleased because it was a lot of hard work, and the Quality Mark recognised the hard work of every member of staff in the school, but particularly how well literacy is led by our literacy co-ordinator Emma Moss.”

Ms Moss said that a number of things have contributed to the school’s high literacy standards, including work with parents, continuing professional development of staff, and project based learning, which makes literacy enjoyable and exciting for children.

She said reading and writing is encouraged across the curriculum, not just in literacy lessons.

She added that children are taken out of school on trips to enable them to experience things first-hand, and write about them afterwards.

Last year children learning through a ‘Winter Wonderland’ project were taken to the Chill Factor in Manchester to allow them to experience a cold environment.

Emma Moss said: “We’re really pleased about the award, the main thing is that what we did on the day we were assessed is what we do day to day.

“The children absolutely love literacy and all the project based learning.

“It was a team effort by all staff, including teaching assistants.”