We have received some fantastic student testimonials from West Walton Community Primary School.

• I like Lexia because it sharpens your mind. The comprehension units have really helped me improve on my comprehension tests. Overall, it is very helpful and fun. I really love the animations at the end. I would definitely recommend this to someone else!
• I use Core5. I like Lexia because it helps me with my knowledge. It explains and gives a demonstration of what to do. I think it’s helped me with a lot of things. My favourite part is the spelling. There is less talking when you already know what to do. I would recommend this to people who are home-schooled. At home, I do Lexia and I think it is a good program.
• I use PowerUp. I really like the word study and grammar lessons. I like how it gives us a video to explain things. I really enjoy using PowerUp at home and my parents enjoy watching me do it.
• I use Lexia Core5. This has helped me because I have improved in spelling. I think it has helped with reading. My favourite part is fluent reading because I don’t have to read out loud to other people.
• I would recommend Lexia to another student because you can learn lots of things and it’s very helpful. For example, I don’t like reading out loud but Lexia is very useful for practising.
• I am on Lexia Core5 and I enjoy Lexia because it expands my learning ability in a fun way. Lexia has helped me understand things better. My favourite part is the graphics when you accomplish something. I don’t suggest any improvement and it is good to use at home.
• I use Lexia Core5. I like that there is someone talking in Lexia. And when you finish a level it makes you feel like you’re getting better at Lexia. I would recommend to do it at home for 2 to 3 days a week so you know more.
• I am using Core5 and I love Lexia because it’s very animated and fun. Lexia has helped a lot with my reading, spelling and comprehension. I also try to use Lexia a lot at home. I think other students should use Lexia.
• Lexia Core5 Reading is amazing. It has funny animations and great sound. It has helped me so much with my English and spelling. I recommend Lexia Core5 reading.
• I think Lexia is amazing because it helps me learn but in a fun way. Lexia has helped me specifically with comprehension and understanding what I read. Altogether, I think that Lexia Core 5 is astonishing and is appropriate for any age.

Lexia has been a fantastic resource which has supported our children when returning to the classrooms this academic year.  We have used this as part of our ‘recovery curriculum’ and having implemented it for a term, the reports produced to demonstrate the excellent academic progress the children have made in a very short space of time.  The initial ‘placement’ phase clearly identifies gaps in the children’s knowledge and then actively supports them whilst trying to teach these specific concepts.  The children are engaged, accessing Lexia both from home and in school and are motivated by the regular certificates.  Teachers and support staff have found the program easy to use and the children are able to access their learning independently throughout the day.  The support provided by the customer service team has enabled me personally to easily lead and oversee the program across the whole school and identify where intervention is needed.

Its gap analysis is great and gives a detailed picture of the gaps in an individual child’s learning. We’ve used it with some of the most vulnerable pupils in our school and it has helped us to gain a clear picture of where their gaps in reading are. Children love it and the feedback from them is that it is engaging and helpful. Older children can identify that it is helping them to improve their reading skills, whilst younger children beg to be allowed to use it daily. Both teachers and support staff find it easy to use and both groups identify the specific teaching provided to be effective for moving the child forward.

The way the program is designed is very child friendly and appeals to children, they love to be on the iPad and PC. What’s most engaging for them is the levels and the different areas around the world. When I’ve watched the children, they talk about where they are, for example, ‘A Day in Paris’ and are also eager to get to the levels their friends are on, this form of motivation works well for children. The children especially love the mini animations when they have completed a unit/level, it keeps them engaged and provides an immediate reward. Another selling point is that the program is individualised to the children’s needs, it places them exactly where they need to be. We’ve recently placed three early years children on Lexia and they love the program and are so engaged. It starts at the perfect level for them and they are able to progress.

From a teacher’s point of view, it’s just fantastic, the program pinpoints the areas the students need more work on. The skill builders are brilliant and we often send them home and for our children to complete them with their parents, reinforcing the skills they have learned and are making those links to other areas of the curriculum.

We have a Year 4 student with autism who would not engage with writing at all and really struggled over lockdown. When he came back to school, we placed him on Lexia and the program put him on reception level, he started off with rhyming words but was really struggling. I worked with him, as did his class teacher as they were doing poetry and working on rhyming in class. When he completed the level in Lexia, he wrote an incredible poem in class. Mum asked if she could take the poem home as her son was so excited and so proud of his work. We could really see the impact of Lexia and I genuinely believe that if it wasn’t for Lexia and pinpointing exactly where he was and what he needed support with, he would not have been able to do what he has done.

Another boy who was on a dyslexia pathway was placed on Lexia as an intervention (the only intervention). He was on Lexia for a year, 3 times a week and more. He worked all through lockdown and was so engaged with the program. At his post dyslexic assessment, the assessor stated that he has made that much progress with his spelling and reading (he started off just below the 2^nd percentile and was now placed on above the 7^the percentile) that his assessment results show no dyslexia diagnosis. Showing that Lexia has really worked. When asked what’s helped with your learning he said “doing Lexia every day”.

I can’t say enough good things about Lexia. It’s really working for us here.

Other teachers have just started to use the reports. For me, I use them to see where the students are, what activities they are doing and their progression. I also use them to look at the activities they are working on in order to link it to their classwork. Ensuring success in both areas and not as separate things.

I often use them with parents, to show them what the children are doing, level of accuracy and time on tasks. I use the new Core5 resources for reading interventions and extra resources for writing stimuli.

Pupils at our school have greatly benefited from the Lexia reading program.  Lexia provides support and challenge which is personalised for each child. Children are able to apply their learning from Lexia in class and enjoy the warm-up games. It has been wonderful to see that the children are so enthusiastic about reading and are making progress whilst enjoying a wide variety of texts. We have been very impressed with the instant feedback and resources provided by Lexia to support children that are struggling in certain areas. This has helped greatly to ensure the children are able to achieve the skills for any gaps they may have. The program encompasses spelling and grammar as well as ensuring children are making progress with their fluency and the understanding of the text. The program is easy to manage and produces valuable reports and data for staff to use in order to support children. (Year 6 Teacher)

We decided to implement Lexia to support our children, particularly Pupil Premium, who have returned to school this September needing to catch up in Phonics and Reading skills, after the school closure period due to COVID-19. This has included pupils from Year 1 up to Year 6. The children have all been instantly engaged by the attractive, child-friendly presentation of Lexia and they look forward to their sessions three times a week. The children find it easy to log in and complete the sessions and are motivated by instant feedback and progression through the levels. Some have already earned certificates for completing levels. We can already see an impact just 4 weeks into using the program. Teachers (and SLT) are able to log on to track individual pupils’ progress with detailed graphs and reports which is proving very beneficial.

We have been very impressed with the customer service from Lexia. We have always been able to speak to the same representative by telephone or email whenever we have needed support. The two training sessions (by telephone/web) were extremely helpful and we were advised of exactly how the program worked in a way that was very easy to follow. All queries were welcomed and answered instantly. We would not hesitate to recommend Lexia.

Kyra Research School Pilot, January – June 2020

The Kyra Research School Pilot, involved 8 schools trialling our primary program, Core5, with one also using PowerUp to target secondary age pupils. The data included in the following report has been anonymised and breaks down the measured progress and usage for a varying number of students across participating schools over a six month period. The purpose of the report is to share the very positive results with schools across the Kyra Research School network and beyond.  A big thank you to the schools and students that took part in the pilot; particularly where much of it unexpectedly spanned the national lockdown period.

Lexia Progress Report – Kyra Research Pilot

Implementation and Monitoring Process:

1. A flyer for Lexia was sent to our school and we liked the look of it. I have delivered English interventions for a number of years and always on the lookout for something different for children to use particularly with our Pupil Premium children.

2. Lexia is an extremely thorough and in- depth programme using all the learning tools that are needed to ensure the children have covered online learning and applying the skills to classroom based activities.

3. We tested all the year 5 children and selected any that were year 4 and under, year 6 children that we were concerned about not making ARE this year and the year 7 children who are not at ARE from the SATs tests last year.
Children were withdrawn one hour per week from a non-core subject for the online session. The timetable changes each term so they do not miss the same lesson. They are then taken from a different non-core subject for any Lexia Lessons needed.
The children are expected to complete a twenty minute reading homework per week and all Lexia children are encouraged to use Lexia for this.
We have a notice board where we can share success and encourage a competitive element to the process. We also display some of the Anchor Charts to support the learning of all our children.
My colleague and I make ourselves available for parent consolation evenings where parents can discuss Lexia and the progress made.
We are in the process of introducing it to our feeder schools as an outstanding intervention package. We have used Lexia to narrow the gap with our Pupil Premium children.

4. Many of the children have engaged fully with the programme and are very keen to succeed. Feedback from English teaching staff has been positive saying that some children are transferring the skills learnt into their lesson whilst others have gained confidence in reading. They are enjoying completing a unit and receiving their Skills builder pack and certificate.

5. We have rewarded children with certificates for completion of units or end of year 5 or 6 level. Children who have reached the final unit have been put forward for hot chocolate with the Headteacher. They have been awarded their certificate by the head in order to raise the profile of Lexia within school.

6. I give reports to the relevant English teaches, to parents, governors, heads of departments and PP lead. We are currently working on how reports are used by teaching staff to aid planning etc. Reports were used at a recently held parents evening where we were able to give more detailed feedback on levels and progress for the children.

7. Introducing and implementing Lexia into our school community has been a challenge albeit an exciting one. We have made a huge amount of progress in terms of pupil’s usage and progress, parent and staff engagement and organisation. In a class of 32 children it’s like having 32 teachers who are fully engaged and personalising the learning for all the children.

As an experienced SENCo, I was excited by the opportunity to trial Lexia within our school. I had already visited a local secondary school to discuss with their SENCo how they used it and was impressed from the onset. Our headteacher also had prior knowledge of Lexia and attended the training. She has also been enthusiastic about the implementation across the school and has been impressed with the impact that it has had.

The tech side of things seemed fairly straight forward and we were able to set up easily with the expertise we already had in school along with the support of the Lexia team, specifically Laura. Emails are always answered promptly and you can always ring to speak to a member of the Lexia team if needed.

On the whole, our children have been really engaged. As a school, we personally targeted Y3 and 4 but then rolled it out to other year groups. We have been delighted with the progress made by our pupils and can see the benefit in continuing with whole year groups as well as using it for targeted interventions.

Our staff have found it easy to access as have our parents for home-usage. It is certainly something that we wish to continue to use and develop within our school. It is brilliant at tracking progress at whole school and class group levels as well as giving detailed breakdowns of progress for individuals. If a school is looking for ways to identify and fill gaps in all aspects of reading, then this is what Lexia does whilst ensuring that progress is maximised.

Lexia has re-energised our reading at school and given children great incentives and motivation to succeed. With two small schools, we have every child on the program and this has been great for in school reading and home learning.

Children who have gaps in their reading knowledge have excelled, and the available reading materials have proved invaluable for reinforcing missed skills. The independence for our readers has been supported by the usage and levels – children are challenging themselves to be the best readers they can.

Staff have been impressed by the range of skills included, and the reports have enabled professional dialogue about the teaching of reading.

The consultant support has been great and the weekly check-ins have been a bonus.

Lexia is what we have been waiting for and now we are “living the reading dream,” as one of my Year 6 students said about the program!