The UKLA is delighted to announce the winners of the 2023 Our Class Loves This Book Award. The award invites our teacher members to submit some work – in any form they choose – based on the UKLA Book Awards shortlist from the previous year.
This year we have two wonderful winners:
The primary school winner is Laura Mole, Year 3 Class teacher at Westonbirt School, submitted a film made with her class based on the work they completed on Katya Balen’s novel, October, October, which was in the 2022 7-10+ shortlist. The film shows the children’s enjoyment in their work, in the classroom and in the grounds. As well as the children’s writing work based on the novel, there were many strong curriculum links; the judging panel enjoyed watching the children’s careful study of owl pellets.
Our secondary school winner is Emily Fairbrother, with her class at Abbeywood School in Rotherham, which is a secondary special school. Emily’s submission was based on her class study of Fourteen Wolves, by Catherine Barr and illustrated by Jenni Desmond. This is a rewilding story, part of our Information Books 3-14+ shortlist, and the students began by exploring how they could rewild the area around their own school, which is sited in an industrial area of their town. The work on this text led to some rich opportunities for their own non-fiction writing – information leaflets, reporting in newspaper format – and creative tasks such as “Predator Poetry”
Both schools will be presenting the outcomes of their work on Saturday 24th June at the UKLA International Conference in Exeter.
Panel: Dr.Jane Carter, Richard Chamberlain, Lorrie Cooper, Rebecca Simpson Hargreaves, Kirsty Jones, Chris Lockwood (chair), Dr.Penny Manford, Liz Ward
