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The Norwood Achievement Partnership (NAP) has focused on two separate
mentoring approaches to addressing underachievement and poor self-image
among secondary school students.
The first project involved training underachieving Year 9 students
(average reading age: 7 years 7 months) to be reading mentors for
Year 1 children at a neighbouring primary school. The project, which
ran from October 2002 - February 2003, was set up to meet the needs
of 26 girls whose progress was cause for concern: the girls had
made little progress in their reading since they had arrived at
the school. The mentors received structured 'training' to improve
their own reading skills and the skills needed to work with younger
children. They made regular visits to a local primary school to
read and play language games with Year 1 pupils.
The project was evaluated with pre/post measures in four aspects:
the girls' reading ages; school library borrowing habits; girls'
attitudes to reading and general self-esteem; as well as qualitative
feedback on the impact of the project on learning and motivation.
The project had a clear impact on attainment in reading. Average
progress in reading in the year prior to the project was one month;
after six months of the project, the girls' reading ages had improved
by 12 months.
The girls' motivation and self-esteem also improved, as these comments
from the focus group confirm: "I hadn't read a book from Year 6
until this year." "It made me want to read more and not feel so
embarrassed about reading." "I understand more words." "I've learned
more spellings - sounding out and that."
Year 5 and Year 6 girls who were experiencing writing difficulties
were partnered with Year 10 girls from Norwood Secondary School
who were also experiencing difficulties. The younger girls were
due to transfer to Norwood School. The older girls were given skills
training prior to their work with the primary school pupils.
Working in cross-age pairs, they then interviewed older members
of the community about their memories of the area. These memories
were jointly written into poetry and prose and published in a book
which was launched at an event involving the students, parents,
teachers and governors and the older people they had worked with.
The pre and post-project questionnaire showed the positive impact
of the project on the attitudes to secondary transfer among the
younger pupils.
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