In order to overcome the substantial barriers to learning that our pupils face, we use an effective programme which targets Year 2 children who are struggling in the early stages of reading and writing. Reading Quest uses an intensive six-week programme of daily one-to-one 30-minute teaching to focus on speaking and listening, reading and writing skills. Our work is based on Marie Clay’s Reading Recovery model.

On average, the six and seven-year-old children we teach make 7 months progress in reading and 5 months in spelling. Many of these pupils come from areas of deprivation and some have major language problems.

We have a group of specially-trained core tutors working with youngsters in some of the most disadvantaged areas. Much of our work involves supporting parents and carers to understand the value of home literacy or to urge them to think about their own learning.

We train corporate volunteers, who want to give their time and expertise to helping children, and are always interested to hear from firms who want to support our work. We also train students on teacher-training courses to deliver our programme into schools while they are still studying.

The work of Reading Quest can transform a child’s life. One headteacher described it as ‘The most effective intervention we can offer our children’.

In brief, we provide:

• dynamic teaching for the most disadvantaged children which enables pupils to function effectively in the classroom and for them to grow in confidence and motivation.
• support and guidance for parents/carers in terms of home literacy, plus a regular family library service for pupils and their families to explore literacy together.
• specialised initial literacy training for school staff in how to use the RQ model.
• trained core literacy tutors to work in schools that request our help.
• ongoing Refresher Training to both core tutors and trained school staff in order to maintain and improve their literacy teaching skills.
• support and guidance to parents/carers to help their children with literacy in the home.
• accreditation to professionals in how to use the RQ programme effectively.