We are delighted to announce that our first Year 10 student has graduated the Thinking Reading Programme.

This is a whole-school literacy strategy with an intensive, one-to-one intervention at its heart. It is a rigorous, research-based systematic programme designed for students who have a significant gap (more than two years) between their reading age and chronological age. Students remain on the programme until the deficit has been closed.

Students are selected based on diagnostic tests and then work with a tutor on a 1:1 basis three times a week. The lessons are personalised so that individual needs and specific areas of learning are addressed, resulting in visible rapid progress. Lessons focus on techniques and skills to decode words and build upon recognition and fluency of reading sounds. Students are also exposed to vocabulary and comprehension. Highly detailed assessment tracks their progress.

The methodical and systematic approach to lessons allows positive reading habits to be instilled in the student and within each lesson there are stages for progression and opportunities for attainment.

We are proud of our Year 10 student, whose decoding ability has increased in such a short amount of time and has reported now reading at a faster pace with a greater feeling of confidence. We look forward to announcing more successful graduates soon.