Improving reading comprehension by 20% for KS3 learners at Taverham High School

Video

Secondary

Taverham High School

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Students at Taverham High School improving literacy using Bedrock

School size

1,156

Bedrock users

660

Free School Meals

14.1%

Bedrock partner since

September 2020

Ofsted rating

Good

Why Bedrock?

Like all schools, Taverham witnessed the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and the associated learning loss. In particular, Taverham have identified a negative impact on both general reading levels as well as oracy with their learners and the school therefore has put a key focus on vocabulary and oracy, particularly Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary.

Bedrock's impact

With a combined approach of fortnightly timetabled Bedrock lessons and weekly Bedrock homework tasks, Taverham have been able to combat the impact that the pandemic had on their learners progress, with Bedrock contributing towards an average of 20% improvement in reading comprehension across all KS3 learners.

Overall, we are seeing that reading comprehension across our Key Stage 3 learners has improved by 20%.

Dale Timbers

Literacy Lead at Taverham

Taverham High School, in Norfolk, has been partnering with Bedrock Learning for several years as a central strand of its literacy strategy. Bedrock is embedded across the school’s curriculum and features in regular timetabled lessons for all Key Stage 3 learners.

We visited Taverham High School to see Bedrock in action and spoke with teachers and learners there to explore how they are using Bedrock in their lessons and the impact it has been having.

Taverham has a key focus on vocabulary and oracy, with teaching staff working to solidify this emphasis across the school’s schemes of work. In particular, the school is targeting improvements across both Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary by embedding Bedrock across its curricula.

Like all schools, Taverham witnessed the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and the associated learning loss as students were unable to directly engage with teachers. In particular, Taverham have identified a negative impact on both general reading levels as well as oracy with their learners, but working with Bedrock has been instrumental in helping to combat that impact.

At Taverham High School, we’ve recognised that literacy is key to improving outcomes for all of our students. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to engage with the Bedrock curriculum because we know that it will really improve their chances when they leave school.

Dale Timbers

Literacy Lead at Taverham High School

All Key Stage 3 learners at Taverham have a timetabled Bedrock lesson once a fortnight, as well as a catch-up club and additional Bedrock tasks for homework, facilitating multiple engagement points with the resource throughout the week.

It’s the enthusiasm. [Students] get really excited… and that buzz is really nice to see, especially when we have had some of our students win Bedrock prizes. It makes us really proud as teaching staff.

Holly Reding

Teacher at Taverham High School

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