Pupils showcase the benefits of reading initiative

Provost Jim Fletcher and Councillor Paul OKane with local school pupils.

The group of Primary 2 pupils are part of the Reading Recovery programme, which was introduced in East Renfrewshire to provide additional support for children who find reading challenging.

Reading Recovery is an accredited school-based literacy programme for children aged five or six, which involves a specially trained teacher working with the pupils to enable them to reach age-expected reading levels within 20 weeks.

The Read Aloud event, held at The Foundry in Barrhead, gave the pupils the opportunity to read aloud in front of an invited audience, helping to raise their self-esteem having benefitted from the Reading Recovery programme.

Councillor Paul O’Kane, Convener for Education and Equalities, said: “It is fantastic to see our pupils reading with such confidence, after being part of the Reading Recovery programme. Reading is such a vital life skill and our decision to invest in this additional support programme is clearly having an extremely beneficial impact. We are absolutely committed to closing the attainment gap, and this intervention is just one example of our pro-active approach to achieving this. Well done to all the pupils who took part in the Read Aloud event, you are a real inspiration.”

East Renfrewshire Council introduced the Reading Recovery programme in 2017, with two teachers studying for a year to become Teacher Leaders for the initiative.

Since qualifying, the two teachers have trained 22 colleagues to deliver the programme in schools across the area, which has already benefitted almost 100 pupils.

Reading Recovery was developed in the 1970s by the New Zealand educator Dr Marie Clay and is now used worldwide. It involves a short series of one-to-one lessons for 30 minutes every day with a specially trained teacher. The programme is different for every child, starting from what the child knows and what they need to learn next. The focus of each lesson is to comprehend messages in reading and construct messages in writing, learning how to attend to detail without losing focus on meaning.

For more information about Reading Recovery in East Renfrewshire, email [email protected].