Summer schools to take place at Sheffield primaries to support struggling readers

Valley Park Primary School, in Norton, and Nether Edge Primary School, in Nether Edge, are offering their nursery to Year Five pupils access to the summer school in August to catch up on their reading and knowledge.

The pupils whose attainment was below the national standard for reading before lockdown will all be invited to attend the two weeks of morning catch-up sessions at the schools to help boost their confidence and standards ready for when they return in September.

In the majority of cases, the children will be grouped into small ‘bubbles’ to minimise the potential spread of coronavirus and will be with the teacher they will have in the new academic year.

Matthew Knox, executive headteacher of both schools, said: “For children who already needed to catch up with their reading, Covid-19 will have not helped. So we want to help boost their reading skills and their confidence.

"They will learn their phonics sounds, read about history and learn important knowledge ready for full classes. They will also get back into routine and see their friends.

"We know all of this will help them settle in and be successful straight away in September.”

During the lockdown, some of the lower ability children will not have had the opportunity to read at home and would, potentially, come back to school with very poor reading skills.

It is hoped that the catch-up sessions will improve the reading age of each attending child by two months from the start and, over time, improve outcomes considerably with attendees attaining higher than their non-attending peers.

They will measure each child’s reading age when they come to summer school and at the end and compare it to others throughout the year to see what the long term impacts are.

Mercia Trust, which runs both of the schools, says it is “incredibly proud” of the dedicated staff who have volunteered their time to offer these sessions.

Both schools have been open throughout the pandemic and have provided online as well as in-school learning.

Editor's message:

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The Star is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

You can subscribe here www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions for unlimited access to Sheffield news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.