Luke is a Year 6 pupil with some learning difficulties. When he started BookQuest, his spoken language was very poor; he struggled to express himself in full sentences and had some trouble understanding questions and instructions. Consequently he often seemed bewildered within the classroom environment. His reading ability was low; he did not like reading and did not read at home. In school, he tried to read books that other boys in his class enjoyed but they were too difficult for him. In 1:1 BookQuest sessions, he extended his oral language, began to include more detail in conversations, and speak in full sentences. The privacy of the sessions allowed him to choose stories at his level and show his enjoyment of them without feeling self-conscious. He took books home and began to read to his little brother. At the end of Year 6 he is now proud to report that his reading is “good”, and he is proud of his writing achievements. He shows confidence and enthusiasm for learning and is looking forward to secondary school.

Sophie’s teacher suggested she take part in BookQuest because she lacked confidence in her reading, was reluctant to contribute to whole class discussion and wasn’t reading at the level expected for age.   

The Quest for Learning Tutor found that Sophie responded really well to the programme which she did with 2 other children over 10 weeks.  She put her hand up all the time, wanting to read and answer questions.   Given time and praise she offered extended answers and was keen to show off new words she was learning.  As her confidence grew she became competitive in her writing and wanted to write more words, though spelling and sentence structure was still challenging. She really enjoyed role play and showed talent in putting on different voices and improvising dialogue.  

After taking part in 20 sessions of BookQuest her reading accuracy had jumped by 24 months and her reading comprehension by 18 months.  Sophie said she was more confident at reading, writing and answering questions, and enjoyed “having fun”.   Her parents felt she had benefited from the programme and was now more confident and enthusiastic about reading, writing and school in general.