Meet Connor, age 9, our Star of the Month March winner

Congratulations to Connor, age 9, from Stanton Community Primary School who is our Star of the Month for March.

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

Connor’s teacher, Kerry Harris tells us:

“In terms of achievement at school I can say that Connor no longer dreads reading and not just on Reading Plus either, he is much more comfortable and confident to read actual books. Being able to understand and articulate his areas for development has given Connor some very tailored targets to work on.

“I have known Connor for five years now and taught him for three of them. His dyslexia diagnosis highlighted some of his barriers to reading but it had already ‘turned him off’ reading, plus finding age-appropriate texts that use the correct developmental level of phonetic development is a challenge, especially when you factor in that he really needs to be interested in it!

“Whilst using Reading Plus is still in the early phases at our school. It was a huge bonus during lockdown, something that could be easily accessed in the home, but monitored by school. Reading Plus tailors itself to each individual child’s areas of development after assessing them which is something I have never experienced as a teacher, but such an amazing idea as the development of readers is such a personal thing. It is great to hear the hush descend on the ICT suite as 31 children get logged in, but most of all I love the random exclamations ‘Mrs Harris did you know that…’ as they read something that they find so amazing they can’t help to share it.”

Connor’s mum, Lauren, said:

“During lockdown 3.0 Connor spent little and often using the Reading Plus programme. With his dyslexia it can be a challenge for him to read, even about things he enjoys! When Connor used the programme I got to see first-hand his understanding of written text develop and with that his confidence reading texts he wasn’t familiar with soared.”

Connor adds: “I like reading plus because it’s given me more confidence when I read my books at home. I learnt to slow down which helps me understand things more.”