Ivy came to ReadingQuest in September 2020; she was in Y2 and 6y 9m old. She could read quite well but her teacher felt that her lack of confidence was holding her back; she was reluctant to share her ideas in the classroom setting and her reading lacked fluency. She was a competent reader and was able to successfully use her phonic knowledge to sound out unfamiliar words. However, Ivy didn’t really like ‘sounding out’ and was embarrassed by her lack of fluency. Ivy was interested in animals and the natural world; to build her confidence the tutor was able to select stories, that reflected these interests and played lots of literacy games to boost her confidence and fluency. At the end of the sessions, Ivy’s, mum wrote ‘Ivy cried when she realised that the RQ sessions were coming to an end. She has really enjoyed her Quest time. We have loved the books she has brought home and it’s been nice to see her wanting to read and share the stories.’ In 6 weeks,  Ivy made reading gains of 29 months and comprehension gains of 32 months. 

Matt is in Year 3 at a small primary school in North Oxfordshire.  He speaks Spanish and Slovak as his first languages and he had been struggling in class as his English vocabulary and comprehension was poor and he was having trouble understanding what he was reading.   When he started ReadingQuest he was a little distressed and embarrassed when he realised he was unable to talk about the stories he was reading with his peers and tutor. 

Gradually, over time, M learnt how to “listen” to what he was reading, to precis short stories, to review and rate the books he read and to answer direct questions related to a text. He also enjoyed playing a variety of vocabulary games. M became more engaged and enthusiastic as time progressed and towards the end of the programme he had a deeper level of comprehension and was enjoying exploring underlying messages within book. 

By the end of the 10-week programme M’s reading age had jumped by an incredible 25 months and his comprehension age by a spectacular 43 months!  This improvement will allow him to enjoy reading for pleasure and help him in the classroom to access all aspects of the curriculum more fully.  After finding the start of the programme challenging,  M was asked how he felt about his understanding of what he now reads.  He drew a smiley face with arms in the air, indicating he now felt super confident!