“Reading Plus is a fantastic programme that has significantly increased the reading ages of our students. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others.”
Hope Sentamu Learning Trust’s Reading Lead Corinne Naylor discusses how Reading Plus has improved reading attainment across their 14 primary, secondary and alternative provision schools.
Can you tell us about the results achieved from Reading Plus?
“Some of our schools have made amazing progress so far. In our primary schools, consistent use of the programme has resulted in many of our children surpassing age-related expectations and making substantial gains in their reading levels across the trust.
“Year 6 pupils at Newland St John’s in Hull have made over four years of progress in a term, which is really impressive!
“We are currently in the early stages, so adjustments will be made. We are looking to integrate it more into the secondary curriculum to mirror its success in primary schools.”
How have you implemented Reading Plus across the trust?
“In our primary schools, Reading Plus is integrated into the reading curriculum with two weekly lessons dedicated to it. Secondary schools primarily assign it as homework, but it’s also utilised during after-school clubs, lunchtime clubs and library sessions.
“We also run interventions alongside that, although we’re still in the implementation phase for secondaries. We identify key students who need it as an intervention and provide access to Reading Plus for three 30-minute sessions per week.
“Alternative provisions utilise Reading Plus daily, similar to our primaries. We find that many students use it as a self-regulation tool, and they use it as an opportunity to calm down if needed.
“As part of our implementation, we’ve set up a lesson structure for the students based on what we expect to see and how to have a successful lesson. We set a target at the beginning of how many tasks to complete and trained staff on how to monitor this effectively. This has made a massive difference because now we can ensure children are engaged and, therefore, able to make progress.”
How helpful has the data analysis been in identifying school trends?
“As a Reading Lead across the trust, I use Reading Plus data to examine the correlation between usage and results. For example, two primary schools in Hull have been using it significantly more than the York schools. That was an excellent way to see this correlation and compare the data across the trust. I can then visit schools with lower usage and share the success stories so they can see that, if you use it consistently, Reading Plus has amazing benefits.”
Do your students enjoy using Reading Plus?
“Our students absolutely love it! Some found the Guided Window feature on the programme challenging because they were used to reading much faster and couldn’t understand why they had to slow down. However, they have since said: “The Guided Window helps me slow down, and I can now understand what I’m reading.”
“Amazingly, pupils can articulate how the programme is helping them to learn to read. Some have become advocates and encourage other students to use it.
“We emphasise the importance of ReReads (a feature allowing students to revisit a particular passage of text when answering comprehension questions) and ensure they use all the tools effectively to succeed. Students are embracing healthy competition and talking about it on the playground, which is lovely to see.”
Does Reading Plus support high-quality teaching?
“Teachers find Reading Plus user-friendly. They like the real-time insights, seeing how each student progresses over the half term, and the ability to see students’ current level and which skills they need to work on – it is incredibly valuable.
“The programme provides so much information that they use the data to inform their teaching. The comprehensive reports which identify whole-class skill gaps are really useful. Suppose data identifies a whole class that needs to work on text structure; teachers can tailor their class teaching and use the programme’s intervention resources, such as lesson plans and worksheets.
“Introducing Reading Plus into one of our reading lessons has reduced teacher workload because they don’t have to plan for that lesson. Still, they know every child engages with age and level-appropriate material, ensuring they receive high-quality learning experiences.”
Has the data identified struggling readers?
“Reading Solutions UK’s Customer Support Team has recently sent us our progress reports (students’ progress data in line with year-level expectations). This showed some students’ impressive gains and those who needed extra intervention. It’s also highlighted students who previously might have slipped through the net – those we hadn’t realised were struggling.”
Can you comment on the quality of the customer support?
“We’ve had an amazing experience with Reading Plus Customer Support. They’ve been great at communicating with all 14 of our schools, offering tailored training for different roles like SENCOs, support staff and heads of year.
“It’s easy to book an online training session and the support is tailored to our needs. We also have half-term data meetings to review how the schools are progressing, like our recent discussion on progress reports. If we’ve got any questions or need any advice, the team are always helpful.”
About Hope Sentamu Learning Trust
The trust wanted a programme that would:
- Identify and help struggling readers.
- Bridge the gap between learning to read and reading to learn.
- Raise reading ages.
- Cater to primary, secondary and alternative provisions within our trust.
“We focused on struggling readers, and while we had implemented phonics intervention schemes to build foundational skills, we noticed a gap in supporting fluency once these interventions finished. Given the high number of students working significantly below their reading age, we sought solutions to enhance fluency. Participating in a Reading Plus pilot programme, we saw excellent progress within a short timeframe, motivating us to explore further.”
Book a brief introductory meeting online with one of our Reading Development Consultants to explore the advantages of Reading Plus for your multi-academy trust.
Call:
0191 389 6078 (option 1)
Email:
info@readingsolutionsuk.com