It is widely recognised that schools cannot improve reading skills without also taking account of ‘access to interesting and meaningful reading materials’. OECD (2002). ‘Reading for change. Performance and engagement across countries. Results from PISA 2000’ 

At the LEO Academy Trust, ReadingZone Live offers so much to teachers and students by engaging pupils in reading and supporting their ability to fully explore and interpret a text. The reading comprehension quizzes in particular are an extremely helpful resource for teachers offering age related extracts, from well-known and loved books and authors, as well as activities that aid pupils’ understanding and learning of specific reading skills. This is something that I have struggled to find in any other resource. Furthermore, quizzes are carefully scaffolded using a range of progressive question types making them accessible to pupils of all abilities. The broad range of author interviews and live author events have become an integral part of our ‘Reading for Pleasure’ culture across the LEO Academy Trust.

Carefully designed cross Curricular activities offer further opportunity for exploration and understanding of each extract; these activities have been ideal in offering engaging and meaningful home learning tasks for pupils. At Manor Park Primary, one of the LEO trust schools, comprehension quizzes have been an essential tool during whole class teaching of Reading and catch-up interventions across the school. The ability to focus on one reading skill has meant that teachers have a ready-made resource that enables them to fill specific gaps in learning. 

ReadingZone Live has supported teacher workload as well as helping to further secure teachers’ understanding of effective teaching and learning in Reading. More notably, it has greatly supported the recovery of learning following a period of disrupted education; pupils have shown enthusiasm and engagement and made greater progress in being able to focus on specific skills relevant to their need.