Celebrating a decade of dedication, growth and success at Reading Solutions UK! Over the past decade, we’ve empowered countless students, schools and educators to enhance literacy and cultivate a love for reading through our reading development programme, Reading Plus.
This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without our dedicated partner schools, passionate educators and supportive school communities. Thank you for being an integral part of our journey, for believing in our mission and for choosing Reading Plus as your reading development programme.
Here is a glimpse of achievements, milestones and stories that have shaped who we are today!
Progress from all UK Reading Plus partner schools for 2023/24
1,560+
satisfied schools
5 billon+
words read
1.6
average comprehension gains in years
32
words per minute average reading fluency gains
Our beginnings
Our journey began with an encounter between Michael Walker – the visionary behind Reading Solutions UK – and the pioneering developers of Reading Plus in the US. Michael was captivated by the programme’s adaptive technology and unique ability to address the challenges of low vocabulary levels and disengagement with reading.
Understanding the crucial need for a programme that explicitly focused on reading fluency through enhancing efficiency and automaticity, Michael was determined to bring Reading Plus to the UK. Later, joined by a former colleague and fellow edtech expert, Ian Fitzpatrick, the two embarked on a mission to enhance the education of children across the UK.
Now, as MD of Reading Solutions UK, Ian continues to evolve the company to suit the changing conditions of the education sector, with our latest advancements now happening under DreamBox Learning.
We’ve reached numerous milestones over the years, each marking our ongoing mission to transform reading and learning experiences for young people across the country.
Supporting senior leaders, teachers and parents
Since our launch in 2014, Reading Solutions UK has been dedicated to helping children discover the joy of reading. We provide exceptional educational technology solutions that improve outcomes for schools, educators and young learners.
We’re proud to be a thriving, supportive team, where every member takes ownership, can achieve personal growth and contributes to our shared goals.
Curious to know more?
Get to know the passionate individuals behind Reading Solutions UK.
Our values
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We are collaborative
We work in partnership with our customers from the beginning as we believe success is built on relationships. From understanding the needs of our partner schools to offering the best solutions, we work together to deliver exceptional outcomes.
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We have integrity
Our company ethos is built on a foundation of trust and respect, where we thrive on meeting the needs of those we partner with. We take ownership of our actions and ensure we’re accessible and inclusive to all.
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We make a difference
We are confident in our offering and the positive difference it makes in meeting the needs of senior leaders and teachers in the classroom to students, parents and carers at home.
What is Reading Plus?
Reading Plus is an adaptive, online reading development programme. With a readability range from Year 2 to beyond GCSE, it serves the needs of a wide range of students.
We aren’t here to replace books. Our purpose is to:
- Create stronger readers through evidence-based technology.
- Develop students’ reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
- Support teachers with comprehensive data on students’ reading gaps.
- Provide free training and support to make teachers’ lives easier.
Supporting teachers
We work closely with all of our schools, witnessing the invaluable role of educators day in and day out. We make it our mission, therefore, to support them as much as possible through free training, time-saving solutions and easy-to-interpret data.
Alongside providing unlimited free training with Reading Plus, we organise a range of initiatives to ensure our teachers have everything they need at their disposal – for free – including:
- CPD – we participate in and host webinars and podcasts throughout the year, partnering with teachers and experts to share insights and tips on key educational topics. See our Teachers Talk Podcast and SATs webinars.
- International Reading Conference – our host, Baasit Siddiqui, is joined by the best education experts worldwide, sharing best practices and innovative strategies to foster confident, lifelong readers in our three-day online conference. Watch the recorded sessions here.
- Research and white papers – we stay up to date with the education landscape and share our findings for educators to access. This year we published our white paper, Reading in KS3: Challenge, impact, outcomes, which explores the KS3 landscape and discusses the broader implications of developing an effective reading culture.
Year-long competitions & celebrations
We’ve created numerous competitions and activities year after year, creating engaging opportunities for students and schools to celebrate their use and achievements with Reading Plus.
Hear from one of our long-standing partner schools
Reading Plus has had a huge impact at Broadacre.
“We had previously identified that reading speed/fluency was an area for development and implementing Reading Plus was part of our strategy to improve this. The success has been clear to see across our Year 5 and 6 pupils. Not only has the average reading speed improved drastically, comprehension accuracy has also improved.
We chose as a school to give Reading Plus a very high profile, ensuring daily sessions in years 5 and 6. The attitudes towards reading, as well as reading scores, have improved immeasurably.
If you’re considering implementing Reading Plus, our advice is simple: do it and commit to it being a fundamental part of the reading offering in school. It works.”
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Tameside school reaps successes with Reading Plus from improving Year 6 SATs results to winning national awards
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Middlesbrough school enhanced pupils’ fluent reading and confidence with DreamBox Reading Plus ahead of KS2 Reading SATs
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Cumbrian secondary school students are now prepared for Key Stage 4 with Reading Plus
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Louth school implements a new literacy initiative with help from Reading Plus
We’ve been honoured to receive recognition for our impact and innovation in education. Our success is a testament to the dedication of our team, the engagement of our partner schools and the hard work of the students.
Reflections from our team: a decade of growth and dedication
In honour of our 10-year anniversary, we sat with our longest-standing and newest colleagues to get an insight into life at Reading Solutions UK and how it has changed over the decade.
- Meet Chelsea, Head of Finance and our longest-serving member:
“I’ve really enjoyed working at RSUK. It’s been a place where I’ve been able to grow professionally and personally, thanks to the support and opportunities provided by the company.
I feel proud knowing that the work we do genuinely makes a difference, and being part of such a dynamic company as it has evolved over the years has been a rewarding experience. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
- Meet Anna, Customer Support Advisor and our newest member:
“I wanted to work here because of how rewarding the job is. Reading Solutions makes a positive change by helping children progress in their education and achieve their highest capability.
I appreciate how accommodating and understanding the company is. Everyone is supportive and always offers a helping hand if needed.”
A final note from our Managing Director, Ian Fitzpatrick:
“As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary, I’m filled with pride in how far we’ve come. Our growth is more than just numbers — it’s a reflection of the unwavering dedication of our team, the trust of our partners and the passion we all share for making a difference in children’s lives.
While this milestone is exciting, we remain firmly grounded in the values that have guided us from day one – integrity, collaboration and making a difference – to continue our deep commitment to education. These values are at the heart of everything we do and they will continue to shape our journey as we look to the future.We cannot wait to see what the next decade will bring and look forward to achieving even greater things together.”