Thursday 30th July 2015
Springboard for Children are our newest charity partner. For every 10 working PC’s or laptops we collect, we donate the value of a tutoring session. Here is a special update about what Springboard have been up to:
Springboard is experiencing its busiest time of the year but also it’s most exciting. As we approach the end of the academic year we assess all the children we have been working with to establish the progress they have made. Of course the tutors who work with the children each day can see progression happen week by week, but to have this confirmed in assessment data is a thrill for all concerned. There are many children who struggled to read or write anything in September and now can read – children like Smita:
Smita, is 8 years old and started tuition in September 2014 with a reading age of a 5 year old. She experienced considerable difficulties keeping up with her peers in the mainstream classroom and so developed all sorts of diversion tactics to avoid learning. At Springboard she would frequently jump up from her chair and pick up various items from around the room to put on the desk! Pens, pencils, rubbers, white boards all ended up on her side of the desk. In the one-to-one situation she couldn’t avoid learning and the tutor drew on her skills and experience to make the learning process fun and engaging for Smita. It wasn’t long before Smita began to learn.
She was obsessed with writing on the white board, which was great. With plenty of encouragement, praise and vast amounts of stickers and reward stamps she started to write on paper. She eventually won a pen and gained her ‘Pen License’ in class. Smita’s behaviour at Springboard, and in the classroom, has improved dramatically and her class teacher has seen a huge difference in her work.
The end of year assessment results evidence Smita’s fantastic progress! Her reading age is now 6 years and 2 months which equates to 15 months progress in just 9 months of teaching. Her comprehension age has also increased by 15 months. We also assessed Smita’s reading level. In September she was at level 6 and in July was at level 18. This is an incredible leap for a child who was so far behind her peers.
Smita will probably continue with her one-to-one support for another term because she is still two years behind her peers, but we are confident that she will continue to make really solid progress and continue to close the gap between her chronological age and her reading age.
Your support enables us to provide a life line to many children like Smita.
If you would like to get involved, and let your old IT and WEEE contribute towards Springboard’s success, get in touch today by calling 020 7407 9100 or emailing info@paper-round.co.uk
