CHURCHFIELDS Academy is celebrating being awarded a Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark.

The award is given only to those schools that can demonstrate their total commitment to making sure that the whole school is welcoming and supportive to all pupils with dyslexia, and has built in dyslexia-friendly systems and teaching right across the school.

It is awarded by the British Dyslexia Association, and the award to Churchfields Academy is one of the first to a mainstream school in Swindon.

Headteacher Steve Flavin said: “I’m delighted we have been awarded the Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark.

“Churchfields is striving to become the best school in Swindon, as demonstrated by school league tables showing that our pupils make better progress than any other school in the town, and we are pleased that our efforts are being recognised by national bodies such as the British Dyslexia Association.

“As a school, we try to offer targeted support to all students, and our commitment to supporting our students with dyslexia shows this.”

The Academy’s special educational needs co-ordinator, Lynn Wilkey, said: “We’ve taken a range of steps to make sure that we are dyslexia-friendly, with changes ranging from buying different paper to make it easier for students with dyslexia to read from it, to having our school database flag up to teachers the particular needs of students with dyslexia so they can tailor the lesson to make sure all pupils make the best progress.

“We are already finding that the changes are having an impact.”