We are proud to congratulate Amy Lloyd on a series of outstanding achievements that are helping to elevate the importance of reading for young people at a local and national level.

Through persistence and passion, Amy has been actively engaging with a wide range of organisations to champion reading for pleasure and inclusive literacy. Her efforts are now gaining significant momentum.

The Tower Hamlets Education Partnership, the school improvement team for Tower Hamlets, invited Amy to deliver training to primary schools across the borough as part of the Department for Education National Year of Reading initiative. The sessions were met with overwhelmingly positive feedback, with school leaders describing the training as inspiring, helpful and thought provoking, and praising the fresh and impactful approach Amy brought to the work.

Amy’s influence has also been recognised nationally. The National Literacy Trust has invited her to deliver a workshop in July at the end of its National Conference, focusing on boys and reading.

Central to this work is Amy’s challenge to narrow definitions of reading and her advocacy for recognising the many ways boys engage meaningfully with texts, stories and information.

This thinking was explored in her 2023 article for BookTrust, where Amy reflected on the widespread belief that boys do not read. Through research, observation and professional self reflection, she argued that boys are often deeply engaged readers, but that their reading choices are frequently undervalued or dismissed by adults. Her work calls on educators and librarians to examine their own biases and to celebrate reading in all its forms.

Further recognising her expertise, Amy has been asked to lead a training module at the National Conference for Secondary School Librarians, exploring how reading for pleasure can work alongside school leadership. This high profile online course launches in September.

Amy’s work with THEP and the National Literacy Trust presents an exciting opportunity for the St Paul’s Way and School Within School reading for pleasure philosophy to reach children beyond our schools. Her achievements reflect how University Schools Trust staff are transforming education as we know it, bringing our shared vision of providing transformational education for all to life.