Raising Standards withBug Club

Kate Ruttle

St Mary’s Church of England Academy

St Mary’s and Bug Club

• St Mary’s adopted Bug Club in Summer Term 2012 as main guided reading scheme throughout school

• School added two year groups from R – Y4 to R – Y6 and we wanted to promote reading throughout our new, enlarged age range

• Academy status meant we wanted something different.

• 200+ new titles commissioned since the introduction of synthetic phonics.

• Reception to Year 6• Small steps, gradual progression• Wordless books to high level 5• Fiction, non-fiction, comics, poetry and plays• Trade and TV links• On-line world

Why Bug Club?

Summer Holiday trial

• School is two-form intake• Classes rarely split for new academic year

• One class of year 2 children were given access to Bug Club online in July 2012 for summer holidays.

• The other class had no access during the holiday

Research Question

• Does having access to e-reading books for the summer holidays

~ limit the Y3 dip?~ impact on standards?~ mean that children read more during the summer?

Research design

Class 1:• Given access to Bug Club electronically for

summer holidays• Big Class Launch• Letters to parents

Research Design

Class 1 Class 2

~ 15 boys~ 12 girls

Y2 SATS score in reading

~ 13 boys~ 15 girls

Y2 SATS score in reading

1B llll 1B l

1A lll 1A lll2C 2C lllll ll

2B lllll l 2B lll2A lllll lll 2A lllll l3C lllll 3C lllll ll3B l 3B l

APS for class 15.2 APS for class 15.5

www.bugclub.co.uk

• Bug Club is the first reading scheme to combine printed books with an online world.

www.bugclub.co.uk• All Bug Club and Phonics Bug books are

available as e-books.

Child’s Home Page• Child takes control• They choose from

books which have been pre-selected by the teacher

www.bugclub.co.uk

Child can listen to a good model of page being read aloud.

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Some books have editable text so the child can write their own version of the book.

www.bugclub.co.uk

There are quizzes throughout which test children’s

www.bugclub.co.uk

comprehension,

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Inference,

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sequencing,

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phonics,

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sensitivity to language.

www.bugclub.co.uk

Research design

Class 1:• Children’s access and interaction was

monitored weekly/ fortnightly during summer holidays

• Answers to, and engagement with, quizzes were looked at

• New books were allocated where necessary

Research Outcomes

Class 1 Class 2

~ 15 boys~ 12 girls June 2012 Nov 2012

~ 13 boys~ 15 girls June 2012 Nov 2012

1B llll lll 1B l l

1A lll llll 1A lll lllll2C l 2C lllll ll llll

2B lllll l lllll 2B lll lll2A lllll lll lllll 2A lllll l llll3C lllll llll 3C lllll ll lllll l3B l lllll l 3B l lllll3A l 3A

APS: 15.2 APS 16.9 APS: 15.5 APS: 16.1

Research Outcomes

Class 1 Class 2

~ 15 boys~ 12 girls

Progress made: June – November

boys girls total

~ 13 boys~ 15 girls

Progress made: June – November

boys girls totaldipped 0 0 0 dipped 2 1 3

= 8 4 12 = 5 7 12

+ 1 sub-level 7 8 15 + 1 sub-level 6 7 13

APS improved by 1.7 APS improved by 0.6

Research Outcomes

Class 1 Class 2

~ 15 boys ~ 12 girls

~ 13 boys ~ 15 girls

1B llll + 1B l

1A lll + 1A lll2C 2C lllll ll + - -

2B lllll l ++ 2B lll +2A lllll lll ++++ 2A lllll l ++++++3C lllll ++++++ 3C lllll ll +++++3B l + 3B l -3A 3A

APS: 15.2 APS 16.9 APS: 15.5 APS: 16.1

Research Outcomes

Progression:~ Overall, children reading more confidently at

2A/ 3C were most likely to make progress from June - November

~ Children reading at 2C were most vulnerable to ‘dip’

~ Class 1 has a more even spread with some children at all levels improving;

Research Outcomes

~ 24 children (89%) in class 1 accessed www.bugclub.co.uk at least once a week.

~ All of the children who made 1 sub-level progress in class 1 (15 children) also accessed www.bugclub.co.uk

Triangulation Data- PERA

~ PERA (Phonics and Early Reading Analysis. Pub: Hodder. 2012) was given to 6 children in each class:

~ 2 higher attainment (3C)~ 2 middle attainment (2B)~ 2 lower attainment (1A) Total of 12 children tested

~ PERA has parallel tests.~ Children were tested

during final two weeks of summer term and during first two weeks of autumn term.

Triangulation Data -PERA

Class 1 Class 2

July September July September

Child ReadingAge

ReadingAge

Child ReadingAge

ReadingAge

Low Boy 6:8 6:9 Low Boy 6:3 5:10Low Girl 6:2 6:4 Low Girl 6:5 6:2

Mid Boy 7:6 7:10 Mid Boy 7:7 7:5Mid Girl 7:3 7:10 Mid Girl 7:2 7:0High Boy 7:10 7:10+ High Boy 7:10 7:9High Girl 7:10+ 7:10+ High Girl 7:10+ 7:9

Triangulation Data -PERA

• All PERA children in class 2 experienced a ‘dip’ during the summer holidays -1 to -5 months

• No PERA children in class 1 experienced a ‘dip’ • All PERA children in class 1 accessed Bug Club

at least once a week• These increases did not all equate to

improved levels (4/6 gained a sub-level) but there were no dips.

What they said

Parents’ comments were all variations on a theme of: ~ “I liked the books.”~ “It was good to know that we were practicing reading books at the right level.”~ “The summer holidays is too long without changing reading books. This was much better.”~ “We liked doing the quizzes.”

What they said

Children’s comments were more varied:~ “I liked the books.”~ “I wanted the rewards.”~ “Mummy said I had to read every day.”~ “It was cool reading books that I already read

at school.”~ “I liked it when the computer read the book to

me.”

What they said

~ “I liked it when the questions are on the computer because sometimes I like to think about the answer.”~ “I think I’m better than when I was in Y2.”~ “Sometimes in the holidays I forget how to

read but this time I didn’t.”

Summary of Progress

For the whole class Class 1 Class 2

APS progress 1.7 0.6

1 sub- level progress 56% (15) 46% (13)

Maintained levels 44% (12) 43% (12)

Dipped 0 11% (3)

For 6 children (21-22%) in each class: Average progress in PERA +2.7 months -2.5 months

Span of progress in PERA +1 to +6 months -1 to -5 months

Research Question

• Does having access to e-reading books for the summer holidays

~ limit the Y3 dip? Evidence that the Class 1 didn’t experience a dip. Causation or correlation?

~ impact on standards?Class 1 class made better progress than class 2. Causation or correlation?

~ mean that children read more during the summer?No evidence gained. But most of the Class 1 children and their parents accessed www.bugclub.co.uk and enjoyed it.

Outcomes

There are many influences on children’s progress in reading other than access to www.bugclub.co.uk but evidence from this trial suggests that• The anticipated Y2-Y3 ‘dip’ was not experienced

by any members of Class 1 but was by some children in class 2;

• Bug Club was used regularly by 89% of children in class 1 during the summer. 79% of the class still access it at least weekly.

Outcomes

• The parents appreciated access to appropriately levelled reading books during the summer holidays;

• Children enjoyed using www.bugclub.co.uk and some were able to recognise that their reading improved- or at least that they didn’t ‘forget how to read’.

• Y3 teachers were able to use the data available to them to check:– Who had used www.bugclub.co.uk– Strengths and weakness in comprehension

Outcomes

Enabling access to www.bugclub.co.uk for Class 1 was win-win:~ the children enjoyed it~ the parents appreciated it~ even if we can’t prove causation, we can say there was correlation with improved standards.