Reading Plus has brought a new dimension to the reading strategies we implement at Ribbon Academy by Ashleigh Sheridan.
Headteacher, Ashleigh Sheridan, shared with us the reading strategies implemented at Ribbon Academy and the impact Reading Plus has on the student’s reading development, outcomes and developing reading for pleasure.
We have a very comprehensive and robust package of reading for our children. Reading Strategies at Ribbon start in the Early Years. Then, it moves on to a school strategy, supplemented by Reading Plus, which supports the children’s fluency, and Accelerated Reader, which we use to encourage children to read in terms of reading for pleasure. Both programmes complement each other, but certainly, Reading Plus has brought a new dimension to what we’re doing at Ribbon.
Regarding reading levels, our academy is looking strong, we've always had a robust approach to reading, but we feel that using Reading Plus enhances reading even further because the programme extends to the home. So, if children want to read at home, we encourage them to read at home. We have expectations for reading at home.
We wanted something where we could try and monitor their progress, as well as give parents the opportunity to see what the children could do independently, as well as with some support.
I firmly believe that only so much can be done in school and that support at home is essential to make children progress in the way we want them to. Outcomes can only improve.
Reading Plus focuses on children’s fluency and understanding; it’s more than just a tool for reading for pleasure as a by-product.
The way the programme is designed encourages children to think about their fluency and words per minute. The built-in competition and gamification element of Reading Plus work great for our children because they’re pretty competitive.
The reward system that Reading Plus has within and the school rewards we’ve developed bring a new dynamic, excitement, and enthusiasm for reading.
The children are really keen and so motivated by the need to read. On top of that, it wraps up with the prizes, the competition element in school and within the programme, and the aspect of sending them home to read, which is excellent and supported by the parents.
The children have a wide range of books to read, fiction and nonfiction, which is great because children have lots of different interests and will tend to just read about what they want to read about.
Having a son myself, who uses Reading Plus, he can tap into what he wants to read at home, and that’s the same for all our children at Ribbon Academy.
I would 100% recommend Reading Plus to other schools based on outcomes at Ribbon, which have been incredibly positive. The outcomes stand for themselves.