“An Ofsted inspector commented on how favourably the children speak about reading…”

I am a Deputy Headteacher and Literacy Coordinator in a Junior School. The children in our school were not reading at home as much as we would’ve liked. I discovered that they were not engaged in the current scheme we had and the ‘scheme-like’ texts were boring and dated to both them and their parents.

A Scholastic rep came out to my school and was incredibly enthusiastic about a new scheme, which she had just been trained on. From her explanation, we decided to buy into Scholastic Reading Pro – a scheme based around real books, with a new Lexile system of assessment.

This was a very daunting process, as there is nothing quite like it on the market. We had to totally renovate our library and spent many hours and pounds ensuring that it was inviting and well stocked with real books which fit to this scheme.

The staff at Scholastic could not have helped me more. They sent a representative, who was incredibly knowledgeable, to help me scan in all of our existing books in order to check their suitability for this scheme. They then travelled to deliver training for all my staff , which was informative and engaging. I was then offered constant support, by email and phone, from the Reading Pro team – who reassured me every step of the way and guided me through with a very much ‘no problem too big or small’ attitude.

The Reading Pro scheme really is ahead of the game, with its assessment system identifying whether children are reading at, below or above their age related expectation. In addition the assessment system uses Lexiles, not levels, which are soon to be axed from the curriculum and assessment process. It allows teachers to experience what it will feel like, when we don’t have National Curriculum levels alongside this.

Since the introduction of this scheme into our school our children have gained, or realised, their real love for reading. An Ofsted inspector commented on how favourably the children speak about reading and that they enjoy it and could speak well about their book and a range of others.

I am very grateful to Scholastic and look forward to continuing to work with them as we continue to embed Scholastic Reading Pro into the constantly changing curriculum.

Rachel Manley
Deputy Headteacher
Cotsford Junior School
2015