Support helps 1,000 Bristol children to learn to read

Nearly a thousand children in Bristol improved their reading skills last year with help from intensive support programmes.

The success of the city's primary schools in using the Every Child a Reader (ECaR) scheme to boost attainment has now been recognised by schools minister Vernon Coaker.

He visited Victoria Park Primary, the first school in the city to pioneer the Reading Recovery programme for six-year-olds a decade ago, to see how well it works.

Mr Coaker said: "I was pleased to be invited to visit Victoria Park School to hear about their work with the Reading Recovery programme, which offers intense support to pupils who may be at risk of falling behind in their reading at age seven. It was a great opportunity for me to hear about the programme and see the benefits pupils can gain from being part of it."

Mr Coaker was accompanied by Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo, now children's minister, who is also a strong advocate of ECaR schemes.

She said: "It wasn't long ago that half the pupils left Victoria Park infant school without being able to read. Now no one does.

"The children I met were so enthusiastic about their reading, and they are learning skills which will be absolutely essential to them throughout their lives. The work that the head teacher, teachers, staff and volunteers do to help children to experience the joy of reading is phenomenal and a real inspiration."

Reading Recovery offers children who are falling behind in reading the chance of daily one-to-one sessions with specialist teachers for several weeks. It produces impressive results, with a rapid rise in reading age.

A follow-up programme called Better Reading Partners is also successful.

Critics say one-to-one ECaR sessions are expensive, but supporters say they will save the economy money in the long run by preventing people who have literacy problems getting into difficulties later in life.

Bristol is one of the leading local authorities in the UK using the programme. It has 43 schools running ECaR lessons and is helping to introduce it in North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.

The city has also developed an ECaR standard, to ensure consistency in early literacy intervention from school to school.

St Barnabas Church of England School in Montpelier, and Filton Avenue Infant School, are the first in Bristol to achieve the standard.

St Barnabas head teacher Claire Waters said the school appointed a Reading Recovery teacher three years ago: "Our vision was to enable all of our pupils to become competent and confident readers."

She added: "The impact of this approach is reflected in our Key Stage 2 Sats results.

"This year we are delighted that, for the first time, all our Year 6 pupils achieved Level 4 in reading.

"Performance at Level 5 in reading was also very strong with 75 per cent of pupils achieving this higher level.

"Interestingly, Key Stage 2 writing results also improved significantly this year with 85 per cent of our pupils achieving Level 4.

"We are very proud to have achieved our dream – a school where every child really is a reader."