Reading Scheme

The Reading Scheme is a project whereby students from Year 10 travel to a local primary school to read one-to-one with Y6 students who have been identified as requiring extra support with their literacy.   

Aims

The aim of the project is two-fold; firstly to enable our students to develop their leadership and communication skills and be involved in a project within the local community. The project is also intended to help support literacy in the primary school and aims to improve confidence and reading skills amongst the primary students involved.    

Background

This partnership project was established in the Summer term 2016. This school became a partnership school as a result of a personal contact with a member of staff. Partnership opportunities were then discussed and a reading scheme was identified as something that could be of immediate positive benefit to the primary school students. As a result of its success with eight students in the first term, the project has been expanded to include twelve students this year.  This school has a number of students with EAL, and it is often these students who are benefitting from this project.

Resources

This project requires only limited resources. To fit with the timings of the school day, the project runs during the KES school lunch hour, which is the start of afternoon lessons in the primary school. As a result, KES students travel in a school minibus to Highfield Primary School and they read with the students in their school library. A member of teaching staff accompanies the students every week during the Autumn and Spring terms. The only costs incurred are for the minibus transport, using a bus owned by the school, and the packed lunches for KES students.    

Impact

An analysis of the SATS tests last year confirmed that the chosen cohort of students made notable progress during the course of the reading scheme. 

Pupil Involvement

Ten students from Year 10 at KES read with the Year 6 primary school children. The students are all of mixed gender.

Frequency

This activity is run weekly for two terms each year and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.