SUE Pearson, the headmistress singled out by Mr Blunkett yesterday, described how a return to traditional methods of teaching reading had transformed her school in one of the most deprived parts of the country, writes Liz Lightfoot.
In one year, the school's test results for reading had risen from 35 per cent of seven-year-olds reaching the required level, to 85 per cent.
Lache infants school in Chester, where 70 per cent of the 234 pupils aged three to seven qualify for free school meals, is now above the national average of 79 per cent.
Mrs Pearson, 45, who became headteacher of the school four years ago, said she had been using the modern methods of teaching reading she had learnt at training college, but the pupils were failing.
So, instead of struggling to read with the children every day, she and her teachers decided to dedicate an hour a day to reading and to go back to the old way of teaching phonics, sound-letter relationships, spelling, grammar and comprehension. She re-introduced reading schemes.
These had been outlawed by progressive thinking because they were said to be contrived and boring and would put children off books.
All children are drilled in phonics, which "real books" gurus claim is senseless decoding of the language, and, instead of reading on their own, they are grouped by ability and work with the teacher for at least part of the hour. The other two groups work on text-book exercises to improve their reading skills. Not only are the children now able to read but their behaviour has improved and they no longer disrupt lessons.
The number of children staying off school has decreased, as has the number classified as having special educational needs.
Mrs Pearson said that at first her return to basics meant she was looked upon as a heretic by other teachers, but now other schools were queueing up to see how it worked.
