Shropshire Reporter Returns To School For Literacy Project

An established Shropshire sports reporter has returned to his former school to teach pupils in a sports literacy project.

Stuart Dunn, the voice of Shrewsbury Town for BBC Radio Shropshire for the last 20 years and also the long-serving sports writer for the Shrewsbury Chronicle, has spent the last six weeks working closely with Year 9 pupils at Shrewsbury’s Grange School.

He said he had enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane and now hopes to visit other local schools for a cross phase project linking English with PE which encourages pupils to develop their literacy skills through the medium of sport.

Pupils were encouraged to try their hand at football commentary while the interactive lessons also focused on improving their writing skills, how to structure a story and headline writing.

Stuart said: “It’s been great to spend time at the Grange School. The response from the pupils has been excellent and they have been very enthusiastic with everything that’s been asked of them.

“They have grown in confidence and their communication skills have really improved. “It’s been lovely to return to the Grange School as I have many good memories of my school days so it’s been nice to go back.”

Kris Dobson, head of PE at the Grange School, said the cross phase project had proved very successful. He added: “We wanted to make the project fun and different for the pupils. It was an excellent way to engage pupils in developing their literacy skills through the medium of sport.

“Stuart provided the pupils with an excellent insight into the world of media including match reporting and commentary.

“The pupils thoroughly enjoyed working with Stuart, taking the chance to develop their writing skills to inform while also improving their speaking and listening skills.

“It was great to see the pupils engaged. They were excited every week as it was a new and different way of learning.”

Stuart Dunn with Grange School pupils Ewan McDougall, 13, and Lauren Davies, 14.