West Exe School staff help fundraise for Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival

Staff from West Exe School and the Ted Wragg Trust attended a fundraising quiz for the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival this month.

The festival this year will run from the 18th to the 22nd of September. As a registered charity, their mission is to celebrate books and their authors and promote the art of writing and the enjoyment of reading in the East Devon community and in other local schools.

Chloe Fox, a Senior Leader at West Exe School and Carrie McMillan, Director at South West Teacher Training and the Ted Wragg Trust Professional Development Lead  were invited to attend the fundraiser quiz at the new cricket club to raise funds to facilitate the festival's target of reaching over 2,000 children this year with their talks and workshops.

Last year West Exe School hosted author Manjeet Mann to talk about her book as part of the Budleigh Literary Festival schools outreach program.  Her debut novel RUN, REBEL for young adults was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2021 and won the CILIP Carnegie Shadowers Choice Award, The UKLA Award, Diverse Book Award and Sheffield Children's Book Award. It was also a Guardian best book of 2020. Manjeet’s second novel The Crossing, won the Costa Book Award for a Children’s Book in 2021 and was also named  the Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week.  She also founded Run The World, a not for profit organisation that uses sport and theatre as a means to empower women and girls. 

Sue Briggs Chairperson of the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival said that she was thrilled to have Ted Wragg Trust schools as part of the programme and that she is looking forward to working more closely with the trust in the coming years.

Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said: “Developing a lifelong love of reading makes all other forms of learning easier and at West Exe we will continue to put literacy at the heart of our curriculum.  I am looking forward to working closely with the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival team again this year; it’s clear how much benefit their outreach programme brings to students. We have taken part in their poetry slam competition several times too (even winning it once!). These events bring the written word to life for our students and we are very proud to be associated with the festival.”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said: “I am delighted that West Exe and Ted Wragg staff took the time to go and help fundraise for the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival.  It’s such a brilliant event and brings so much to the South West in terms of cultural capital.