Dagenham school sees huge gains in confidence and progress with Reading Plus
Susan Mullaney, Deputy Headteacher at Hunters Hall Primary School in Dagenham, had noticed an increased need for reading interventions in KS2 across the school. This was particularly evident for boys and those eligible for pupil premium.
Read on to discover how the school used DreamBox Reading Plus to tackle this, as well as fix the decrease in pupils reading for pleasure.
"Try the free trial of Reading Plus as we saw progress within this amount of time. The engagement of children is incredible and the support you receive is so helpful."
Progress with Reading Plus
Fluency has improved greatly, as has confidence in many children. We use the programme with Years 5 and 6 and most of our Year 6 children who accessed the Reading Plus programme started finishing their practice (and final) SATs papers where they were not before.
Out of the 43 children who took part in the programme over the year, all but three reached age related expectations by the end of Year 6.
Supporting struggling readers
The children really enjoy using Reading Plus. Once they start, they really engage. The room is silent as they are so engrossed and love seeing their own progress.
It has given our struggling readers confidence by allowing them to read without any comparison to others in the moment. They did not have to worry about others seeing if they answered incorrectly, but celebrated when they did well. The certificates are a lovely way to celebrate and the children really champion each other.
Reading Plus at Hunters Hall
Before Reading Plus, children generally enjoyed reading, and it is an integral part of our curriculum. We are fortunate to have a library that each class visits weekly and daily reading lessons, as well as time for our staff to read to and with children daily. However, we had started to notice a decline in boys' engagement with reading for pleasure.
We now use Reading Plus for those working below expected levels. A focus number of children attend the Computing Suite daily to work through their own programme. This works well for us. We have a dedicated LSA who oversees our children while they are completing their reading and is on hand for help if needed. She attended all training with us and we are able to meet as a team to discuss progress, engagement and next steps. Once children have made the progress needed and are sustaining this, they leave the programme, return to the class sessions and another child takes their place on Reading Plus.
Easy implementation
It was very easy to implement the programme. Once you have spent some time understanding what each element of the programme does and how it works, it basically does everything for you. There is nothing further to do for the children’s individual programmes as this happens automatically once names are logged. It was very helpful to have the Daisy Education team on hand if we ever needed them. We had some really beneficial face-to-face sessions with our Reading Development Consultant, which allowed us to go away, try things and come back with questions.
We received outstanding support. Everything was broken down into clear steps from the first call to the follow up meetings. We were directed to key resources to help us and meetings if we needed them. We regularly receive emails to give us updates on our children, new initiatives or to check in if we need anything. The staff are very knowledgeable and always happy to help!
Improved teacher planning and reduced workload
The thing I like most about Reading Plus is the ease of running it and, now we have had it for a while, seeing the progress of the children. This has been incredible. It does not add any extra work for staff leading it and the more we do it with new children, the easier it becomes.
The reporting data has allowed us to see what area of reading was holding children back so we could focus on this in classroom learning.
Explore how Reading Plus can meet the needs of your school!
Book a brief 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)
