Successful implementation at Queens CoE Academy

Keen to share the good news, Tom Kidd – the Y6 teacher, English subject lead and driving force behind the school’s successful implementation discussed – spoke to us about their Bedrock experience so far.

A blended approach to implementation...

We have used Bedrock in a two-pronged system: in the classroom and as part of our homework provision. We have one of our daily reading lessons per week dedicated to quizzing – and use this time to ensure children have the opportunity to complete one of their Bedrock lessons. This takes the pressure off at home and the children can make the connections between reading and vocabulary.

Creating a language-rich community and narrowing gaps for all learners

As the [Bedrock] results have shown, our children desperately needed some explicit vocabulary teaching as we have a high proportion of EAL and deprivation – meaning that a wide range of vocabulary is not always easily accessible for our children. I have read the research and know that higher levels of vocabulary directly correlates to higher levels of reading and writing, so I recognise how important it is for our school to become a language-rich community.

How Bedrock Vocabulary contributes to learners’ reading and vocabulary development across Queens

The fact that children study vocabulary explicitly is helping to increase attainment in reading. Our whole-class reading lessons have a vocabulary focus and children are able to make connections between words that they have been explicitly taught in Bedrock and those they are coming across in their reading. They are starting to see the connections between root words and vocabulary families/trees that are widening their range of Tier 2 vocabulary.

How explicitly teaching Tier 2 vocabulary supports learners’ writing and oracy

In our reading lessons, we decode vocabulary from the reading texts we study. In a Year 6 class, one of the words they were asked to decode had been a word they had studied on Bedrock. As a result, the progress that could be seen and the links between the learning was clear for all to see!

This focus on vocabulary encourages children to use Tier 2 vocabulary in their writing by using word mats in our writing lessons. This also feeds into the oracy side of our curriculum and in speaking and listening activities such as debates, we are beginning to see that some children are using more sophisticated vocabulary during these activities.

As we see improvement in our children, we are able to use the data on the vocabulary that our children have learned to encourage them to use them in writing and speaking and listening activities. As a leader, I can correlate the improvements in vocabulary to the reading attainment and progress across the upper key stage and spot trends in their learning. This means I am able to talk about progress confidently to other leaders, teachers, external organisations and governors.

Has your customer success manager made sure your needs were met?

Yes, Cameron has been great at helping with set-up and going through reports. He has made it easy to understand the reports and how to use them. As a result, I have been able to closely monitor progress from a leader’s point of view but also show teachers how to use the reports to support their monitoring in class.

The only challenge has been the amount of ICT equipment that we have in the school and how the bubble systems have made it more difficult to share, but this is an internal issue. There have been no difficulties with the system at all.