Testimonials
Elmhurst Primary School, Newham
Elmhurst Primary is a very large school with over 900 pupils. Most
speak English as a second language and have a great number of different
home languages. The school locality has high levels of deprivation.
Mobility is high with many children who join our school being recent
arrivals from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and Eastern Europe.
We have been teaching Read Write Inc. for 3 and half years now. The impact has
been quite remarkable. We see children learning to read very quickly
because of the structured and rigorous teaching of phonics. Their
writing and comprehension skills also improve. The programme involves a
lot of speaking and listening, especially in 'talk partners'. The
children are put in to small groups according to their ability. Because
of the structured nature of the programme and the use of talk partners
to keep children active and engaged, boys respond particularly well and
remain motivated. The work is matched according to their ability so
boys are not given the opportunity to get bored and to start
misbehaving. We assess them regularly and move them up to the next
group if they have made good progress. If children struggle, we give
them extra 1-1 help in the afternoons.
Reading fluently is the biggest gift that we can give to our children
before they leave us to start their secondary school. Read Write Inc. has been
instrumental in our quest that 'no child can slip through the net'.
Every child deserves the best.
Mr Shahed Ahmed, Elmhurst Primary School, Newham
Monteagle Primary School, Dagenham
In 5 weeks and 3 days we have seen huge progress in terms of whole
groups moving up levels together. 1 child in particular started off by
just learning their sounds and was moved to the green level reading
group in 5 weeks. This child is someone who has challenging behaviour
so we are particularly thrilled with the results.
Ms Lynna Thompson, Monteagle Primary School Dagenham
Shawclough
Primary School, Rochdale
At Shawclough we began using Read Write Inc. in
KS1 three years ago. The effects were immediate...
"At Shawclough we began using Read Write Inc. in KS1 three years ago. The
effects were immediate, children were motivated and began to respond to
learning perfect pronunciation with great enthusiasm correcting their
parents with glee if they "got it wrong". As the programme works from
what the children know and builds on that steadily our pupils have a
really positive view of learning to read and write and our standards
have risen steadily. Staff are also enthusiastic and would be reluctant
to return to previous methods of teaching literacy. The programme sets
a good pace and is well structured with a minimum of planning required,
what more could a busy teacher ask for!
Since the early days many more of the staff have had training. Special
needs children throughout the school are taught literacy using this
method. It is also useful when children transfer to us from other
settings and, if necessary, an intensive course enables them to quickly
catch up to their peers.
An added bonus is that speech therapists endorse the use of Read Write Inc. with
young people who have speech problems."
Ms Judith Talbot, Shawclough Primary School, Rochdale
St John
Southworth RC Primary School
One year on, it is wonderful to see
the improvement in reading and writing...
We have been using the Read Write Inc programme for one year now. We
began by assessing all the children in the school and grouping them
accordingly. The children quickly adapted to working in different
literacy groups and it was evident, after just a few weeks, that the
confidence of the children had grown.
They could see the progress they were making and they were being given
the chance to succeed. One year on, it is wonderful to see the
improvement in reading and writing levels of our Year 1 and Year 2
children. A year of teaching, following the programme, has raised their
achievement. We just wish we had found the programme earlier!
Miss E Deegan, Literacy Co-ordinator St John Southworth
Primary School, Lancashire
Furrow
Community School
It works!
There are many dimensions to your programme that support teaching and
learning (I know you know this but I thought you might like to hear
that it is appreciated).
The children identified SEN are also making better progress and I will
be able to focus more on them now the programme is established in the
school.
The successful teaching that has been evident since September has had
beneficial effect on learning and behaviour across the school. Thank
you.
Sue Watts, Furrow Community School
Maryland
Primary School
It's the best literacy programme we
have ever known...
How can we ever thank you?
Read Write Inc. actually teaches children to read and write. We love
using this programme because children achieve so much so quickly. They
want to read and write. It's the best literacy programme we have ever
known.
Lorna Jackson, Headteacher, Maryland Primary School
Child's
Hill School, Barnet
It develops self-confidence in the
children...
Why we chose Read Write Inc.
We were dissatisfied with the level of literacy we were achieving in
our school despite the commitment and hard work of the staff.
We have a quick turnover of children many of them arriving with poor
literacy skills. We needed a programme not only to identify them
quickly but to remedy the problem as quickly as possible.
We visited Kobi Nazrul School where the previous head was Ruth Miskin,
the author of the programme, and were very impressed with the level of
literacy achieved in what is essentially an ESL area.
Benefits for the child
The children learn to read very quickly. Struggling children are picked
up immediately and given extra tutoring and, if necessary, moved to a
group more suited to their pace.
It develops self-confidence in the children as they succeed immediately
and learn to read words right from the beginning. They are also
answering questions and this gives them confidence in their ability to
think and give clear answers.
Child's Hill School, Barnet
Canon
Barnett Primary School, Tower Hamlets
This year, all children achieved Level
2b and above...
Using Read Write Inc. has helped to improve standards: everyone knows
our
expectations and there is a consistency of standards. We know that we
are aiming
for all children to read well, particularly those who are
underperforming.
Standards in the foundation Stage and KS1 have risen since the
introduction of
Read Write Inc. We are very impressed that our reception children were
writing
simple sentences confidently by Christmas. 'Fred Talk' has been a
positive
influence on children's ability to sound blend for word reading.
Year 1 reading results made a large improvement in the first year we
were in the
project. These are now our expectations. Before using rml we had many
children
achieving NC Level 2c. This year, all children achieved Level 2b and
above
(apart from one child with significant learning difficulties).
Children display a huge confidence in their reading and writing since
we have
started Read Write Inc. They are very enthusiastic participants in their
lessons.
Specific training and on-going support help to ensure that the school
maintains
high standards. Manuals provide good quality support for both teachers
and
teaching assistants. As they are so well structured, teaching
assistants can teach
small groups allowing us to cater effectively for a wider range of
abilities.
They also provide a good basis to plan intensive sessions in the
afternoons so that
pupils who are falling behind, for whatever reason, can be taught by
teaching
assistants in Read Write Inc.tutoring programmes.
We have taken on partner work as a whole school as we could see how
effective it
was being in the rml classes. Children respond well to the stop signal.
Talk
partners, and the idea that we are looking for a 100% participation at
all times has
had a huge impact on the whole curriculum. There are less behaviour
issues as
everyone is involved and on task. We have reviewed our whole curriculum
with
this in mind.
Canon Barnett Primary School, Tower Hamlets
Melcombe
Primary School
Children are keen, happy and have a
sense of achievement...
Melcombe has been using Read Write Inc for just over a year. It was
introduced and embedded in KS1 and this academic year continued into
year 3 for those that need 'catch up'. As a staff we have been
impressed with the results that we have seen. The biggest impact has
been on the children's independence when writing, as they use their
phonic knowledge to tackle unfamiliar spellings. When observing the
children it is interesting to see how they use the actions that
accompany the sounds to help themselves and others. They are keen to
read and enjoy achieving success. Support staff like the scheme and for
them the Speed Sounds Lesson books are invaluable as it gives them the
structure and varies the approach to learning of the children.
Year 2 teacher who also taught her class in year 1. (3rd
year of teaching)
I have implemented the Read Write inc phonics programme in my class and
seen an improvement in reading, writing and spelling. Things that I
have noticed are that the children approach writing tasks with
increased confidence and use their phonetic knowledge when trying to
spell unfamiliar words. The actions linked to the sounds help to engage
all learners especially EAL children and it has been seen that they use
these visual cues to help spell words. Letter formation has also
improved- the ditties are fun and memorable for the children. Children
are keen, happy and have a sense of achievement, when reading books
appropriate to their level.
Melcombe Primary School
Easton
CE Primary School, Bristol
The introduction of Read Write Inc in
our school has been hugely positive...
"The introduction of Read Write Inc in our school has been hugely
positive. In the first four months the average child in our inner city
primary made over a whole level progress in their ability to decode
texts. The programme has been particularly helpful to enable newly
arrived children with EAL (and with no previous schooling) to rapidly
acquire the skills to read and write.
We have also found that RWI works well in Years 5 and 6 when children
have forgotten the phonics they learned when they first started school
- now they have another strategy for reading and spelling.
The children enjoy the fast progress they are making, and teachers and
LSAs find it simpler to teach groups of children working at the same
level. We are looking forward to seeing how our new Reception Class
children take to the programme!"
St
Helen's Junior School, Brentwood, Essex
Children have gone up by 2 levels...
"Year 5 have been using Fresh Start for a year and lots of children
have gone up by 2 levels ie some children that started at 2c/2b went up
to 4c, as well as lots of them achieving 3a. The children are much more
confident right across the curriculum".
