One proud Dad and proof that collaboration works at all ages

How proud can you get?  And what a great example of collaboration

The following is a certificate that my daughter Ellen received from her school.  Ellen is in Lower VIth and has been helping Year 7 pupils with their reading and literacy.

The scheme that has run for a number of years partners Year 7 pupils that are struggling with their reading and literacy (something that is becoming increasingly common with children leaving primary schools – able to do SATS but at the detriment to… that’s enough of that!).  Ellen has spent 15 minutes twice a week for the last 3 months each week with her year 7 and by a combination of reading with, listening to, helping with definitions, correcting where necessary and the use of phonetics Ellen’s pupil’s reading age has risen by 37 months!!! Brilliant! There were 30 plus KS 3 (years 7,8 & 9) pupils on the scheme – all but 5 have reached their required reading age; min increase in reading age was 8 months and the biggest increase was 54 months!!  The KS 3 pupils chose books from the Literary Resource Centre and these included “Beast Quest” by Adam Blade and “Billionaire Boy” by David Walliams

How proud!! And this is all because the school has brought together those with the expertise, passion and enthusiasm to help others – the collaborative approach has reaped huge rewards.  From a networking perspective – you knew I’d get to this! – we have connectors – the teachers and Literary Resource Centre staff who have identified the Lower VIth pupils who could possibly help, with some basic instruction and ground rules, being at the right place at the right time, building the relationship and more then great results have been achieved.  just think what you(we) could achieve in our businesses from applying the same techniques.

The Certificate reads

• Certificate of achievement in supporting Literacy
• Voluntarily giving your time to provide support
• Contributing to attainment and progress
• Accurate recording of progress
• Application of phonics based approach to enable reading progression
• Being a positive role model, building confidence and self esteem

Spot those which networking can provide or that you give when networking!

One final thought – this shows that the accumulation of marginal gains can really reap the benefits – much as networking does – those conversations all helping in some small way