Partnership with Pride of Reading Winner!

The significantly delayed 2020 Pride of Reading Awards were finally hosted on Friday 3^rd December 2021 and how wonderful to see so many people turned out at the Madejski Stadium to celebrate the fantastic people in our local community who have given so much to help others.

We are delighted that one of the nominees this year was our very own Head of DT, Mark Smith, who was put forward by Deputy Head Girl, Ellie Pearson. The accolade comes as a result of Mark’s incredible work, founding the Safer Vision Hub Partnership during the first lockdown of Easter 2020. Mark headed up a collaboration of 18 schools and 3 commercial partners, whose tireless efforts created over 39,000 face shields for over 500 organisations. Berkshire’s hospitals, hospices, care homes, pharmacies, NHS key workers, doctors’ surgeries and more benefitted from the production of the face shields which protected those in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19 at the start of UK’s experience of the pandemic.

The awards, now in their 17th year, recognise both individuals and organisations who have gone the extra mile and the pandemic has brought forward some truly exceptional candidates. We were overjoyed to celebrate with our partner, Whitley Community Development Association (WCDA) who were recognised for the incredible difference they have made to their local community. Leighton Park has supported WCDA with our LP Donate scheme, providing food, toiletries and essential items through the generosity of the Parent and Staff Community (PSC) group, through Christmas boxes matched to 28 families in need, through the Let’s Cook Together initiative, delivering weekly boxes of ingredients and cooking equipment alongside video recipes, through fundraising raising £3,000 of marathon money, and through smaller acts of kindness including the delivery of plants and a bicycle to the Whitley residents.

We are proud that the work undertaken by both those involved in the Safer Vision partnership and those contributing to the success of WCDA has been recognised by the Pride of Reading Awards and look forward to the School’s community continuing to make a difference throughout 2022.

Natasha Coccia, Assistant Head: Partnerships and Outreach, commented “It is an honour to work in partnership with Trisha and the team at WCDA. We have seen with our own eyes, the positive impact the Hub has on Whitley residents, and I cannot congratulate them enough on this award. It is so deserved. Right now, our PSC are working hard to match LP families with Whitley families for Christmas, and we look forward to visiting in the minibuses on 13th December with our boxes of goodies for the festive season!”