Member Article

Award-winning business returns to Teesside roots

An award-winning Teesside businesses is returning to its roots after a resounding success around the country.

Sound Training for Reading has already inspired secondary school pupils from as far afield as Bristol, Penzance and the Isle of Wight, helping them improve their reading ages by an average of more than two years in just six weeks.

Sound’s managing director Katy Parkinson is launching the scheme in the town where it originated when she led the local council’s 12-strong learning and language team.

Katy ended a 15-year stay with Middlesbrough Council in 2011 when leaving her role as senior learning and language team coordinator to launch Sound Training for Reading.

Based in Middlesbrough’s Boho digital zone, Sound was the 2013 winner of Tees Valley’s Best New Business award after proving a massive success in secondary schools across the length and breadth of the country.

Now the Sound of success is coming home with Unity City Academy signing up dozens of its pupils to undergo the unique literacy programme.

The intensive reading scheme has already helped more than 5,000 underachieving youngsters improve their literacy skills.

Katy, who employs 56 supply teachers to deliver the programme across the country, is thrilled to be bringing the scheme back to where it all began.

“This is where Sound Training for Reading was born, so it’s only right that pupils here feel its benefit,” she said.

“We have the children of Middlesbrough to thank for the success of this programme.

“After much development and fine-tuning, I finally picked up the courage to launch Sound Training as a national business two years ago but it was the kids of Middlesbrough that helped me get it to that stage. They were my teachers.”

Unity City Academy are the first Middlesbrough school to sign their pupils up for the course, while Thornaby Academy are also new recruits, following in the footsteps of Gillbrook and Eston Park academies in the Redcar and Cleveland area.

“We want to make a real statement by taking Sound Training for Reading to large numbers of the town’s pupils,” added Katy.

“We do have real educational challenges in the Tees Valley but it would be great to play our part in getting this area back on the map for the right reasons.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .