Developing reading skills in children aged 8 to 13

With over 8 years experience teaching English at Secondary school level, I've seen how low reading ages and underdeveloped reading skills hamper young people in the learning across school curriculums. Many of the texts and materials used in secondary schools are for people with a reading age of 16+ and thus, for many young people, learning feels inaccessible from the get go.

I'm passionate about focusing on decoding and comprehension skills separately to help boost your child's aptitude for reading and their confidence (and perhaps even spark a love for reading in the process!). I have been trained in Read Write Inc. and Fresh Start so I am familiar with the phonics approach used in Primary schools. My sessions, however, will focus on providing students with accessible texts to read and then tasks that improve decoding words and meaning, and then comprehension. We can also work on reading aloud to better fluency and expression.

Through these sessions I hope to build your child's confidence, reading stamina and steadily broaden their vocabulary (as well as accurate spelling), to unlock not only the skills necessary for successful engagement in school curriculums but also the world at large.