Meet Dimi, age 12, our Star of the Month June winner

Congratulations to Dimi, age 12, from Oldfield School who is our Star of the Month for June.

In recognition of his amazing effort and progress on Reading Plus, Dimi was awarded our Star of the Month and received a trophy and £25 voucher.

Dave Blower, Literacy Coordinator, said of Dimi’s progress and achievement on Reading Plus:

“In spite of the numerous disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Dimi has made considerable progress this academic year, moving from level Pre-A to level HiD for reading comprehension (4.6 levels in total). He has read over 123,000 words on Reading Plus, with an average comprehension score of 80% with 35 Combos achieved (the most in the year group).”

Looking at the impact Reading Plus has had on the school, Dave continues:

“From September, we will have 100 students – spanning Key Stage 3 – using Reading Plus as part of their curriculum time. We target those who are shown to have the lowest literacy levels on entry – around half of these students ‘graduate’ from Reading Plus at the end of Year 7, whilst those most in need of ongoing intervention continue with the programme in Years 8 and 9 (they do this instead of a Modern Foreign Language).”

Of those who have used Reading Plus regularly this year, 20% have made one level/year of progress in reading comprehension, 28% have made two levels of progress, 15% three years, 11% 4 years, and one student has advanced by six levels/years. In addition, our self-evaluation processes show us that the majority of students enjoy using Reading Plus and state that it has improved their reading skills and, crucially, their reading confidence.”

Perhaps the key elements of Reading Plus are the way that it differentiates content to suit the skill-levels of the students – something that is extremely hard to do in broad mixed-ability groups following a one-size-fits-all curriculum – and the challenge and motivation that is provided by the clear, lesson-by-lesson format in which progress is presented to students and their teachers.”

It’s wonderful to see the success that is achieved by students who may otherwise feel like English is something that they can’t/won’t/don’t do.”