Louth Academy has been on a mission to promote the importance of reading. Mrs Michelle Hammond, Head of English and Curriculum Leader, shares the pivotal role of Reading Plus in their school’s reading initiative.
Why Reading Plus?
Our students entering secondary education were below the expected reading age.
Within our school, reading and engagement were low. Our students lacked confidence in their reading, which only got more concerning following the pandemic.
We chose Reading Plus to enhance our new literacy initiative in combating these issues and to develop reading efficiency to help with comprehension.
The positive impact of Reading Plus
Thanks to Reading Plus, we have noticed a lot of our students have become more confident when reading. Students are also engaging more with the school libraries.
Students are improving their reading ages and covering a more comprehensive range of texts, which has positively impacted their progress across the curriculum, ensuring they are better prepared for KS4.
Pupil enjoyment
All Year 7 and half of Year 8 classes use Reading Plus.
Students enjoy using Reading Plus, even more so since we’ve enhanced our training, allowing more coherent communication between teacher and student.
We asked the students themselves some questions about Reading Plus, here is what they said:
What do you enjoy most about Reading Plus?
- “Being able to select what you want to read.”
- “You can pause it and read at your own speed.”
Do you feel that your reading has improved?
- “I am a quick reader, but I understand what I’m reading more now as I take my time.”
- “Yes, because I can read faster.”
Teacher enjoyment
We love the ability to track students’ progress quickly and effectively.
We find the Insight Assessment (initial baseline) feature very valuable, as it allows you to monitor the class, student, and whole-year group effectively.
Reliable support
The level of support received from the Reading Solutions UK staff was fantastic!
The implementation process was simple. The RSUK team replies to all queries quickly and effectively. Our requests were met within 24 hours, and staff are always happy to complete training over the phone or online.
Benefits of Reading Plus data collection
The reporting data has helped guide our teaching. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of our students and has allowed us to effectively adapt the curriculum accordingly.
About Louth Academy
They wanted a programme that would:
- Enhance their new literacy initiative.
- Increase reading engagement and confidence.
- Improve reading ages to meet year-level expectations.
“We have launched a new literacy initiative supported by many new, sustainable measures to build an effective reading culture within our school. This includes a brand-new Lower School Library, a new range of books for the Upper School, and a book vending machine. It also meant the introduction of our Academy’s Literacy Week – a week dedicated to boosting reading. One of the ways they achieved this was a Literacy Coffee Morning, where the school invited parents and carers to get involved in their children’s reading journeys.
Reading Plus also played a prominent role in our Literacy Coffee Morning, organised to open the Lower Library and introduce Reading Plus. Our students showed their guardians the student dashboard, and we showed the teacher’s dashboard and a breakdown of the assessment features.
It was important for the school to show Reading Plus to guardians to allow them to see how the programme works, the benefits, and how they help their child. We received a very positive response from the event.”
Book a brief introductory meeting online with one of our Reading Development Consultants to explore the advantages of Reading Plus for your school.
Call:
0191 389 6078 (option 1)
Email:
info@readingsolutionsuk.com