We are incredibly proud to announce that St Bart’s Multi-Academy Trust has been awarded Multi-Academy Trust of the Year at the Fonetti 2025 National Read-Aloud Awards.
This prestigious national award recognises our Trust-wide commitment to inspiring young readers and fostering a genuine love of reading across all our schools. It celebrates the collective effort of pupils, staff, leaders and families in making reading an enjoyable and meaningful part of everyday life.
A Trust-Wide Commitment To Reading
As part of the National Read-Aloud Challenge (NRAC), St Bart’s academies came together during the summer holidays to take on an ambitious goal — and our pupils rose to the challenge. Across the Trust, children read almost 9,000 books aloud, developing their reading fluency, confidence and enthusiasm for reading along the way.
Reading aloud plays a vital role in supporting literacy development, and the impact of this challenge was clear to see in pupils’ growing confidence and enjoyment.
Celebrating Success in London
The award was presented by Clare Balding CBE in London at a celebration hosted by the National Read-Aloud Challenge and Fonetti. It was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the hard work and dedication shown across our schools. We were also delighted to see Nantwich Primary Academy and Nursery recognised as North West Regional Winners, a brilliant achievement for both pupils and staff.
This success would not have been possible without the dedication of our school leaders, English leads (pictured above) and teachers, who supported and encouraged pupils throughout the challenge. We are also incredibly grateful to our families for the encouragement and support they gave children at home. Most importantly, we are immensely proud of every child who took part. Their enthusiasm, commitment and love of reading are at the heart of this achievement.
We look forward to building on this success and continuing to create opportunities that help all our pupils develop strong literacy skills and a lifelong love of reading.
To find out more about this award, please read the press release.