Year 6 pupil nationally recognised for reading achievements after Taliban banned her from school
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ZamZam Raoufi, a Year 6 pupil from Carpenters Primary School, was named a finalist for the national reading award ‘Most Effort on Reading Plus’ for her hard work, strength, and dedication towards developing her reading.
Georgia Neath, Year 6 Class Teacher and Reading Subject Lead at Carpenters Primary School, who nominated ZamZam, said: “ZamZam was new to the country from Afghanistan in Year 5. She arrived as a refugee, having only had one year of schooling before the Taliban banned girls from education.
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Hide Ad“She has worked so hard to learn English and is diligently doing her Reading Plus at home to progress further.”


ZamZam received this recognition as part of the annual Reading Plus Awards – an event organised by Reading Solutions UK to celebrate the achievements of students, teachers and schools nationwide for their academic achievements using the online reading development programme DreamBox Reading Plus.
Georgia continued: “I am so proud of ZamZam. She's a gorgeous, shy child, but she's so resilient. She's worked incredibly hard across the curriculum, and this is such lovely recognition of her efforts. Her confidence was low, but has increased this year, and I think it'll be a great boost for her before she goes on to Year 7.”
On her achievement, ZamZam said: “I feel excited and proud to have won. I enjoy using Reading Plus - it’s really interesting and I can learn more things. It has improved my attitude to reading and my reading skills have gotten better. I know more words. Before, I didn’t know lots of words.”
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Hide AdMatthew McClay, Reading Development Consultant at Reading Solutions UK, said: “What ZamZam has achieved, particularly under her circumstances, is nothing short of remarkable. Her attitude and determination to further her education is inspiring – she should be incredibly proud.”
To find out more about Reading Plus, visit https://www.readingsolutionsuk.co.uk
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