A Guide for Parents

What is Accelerated Reader?

Accelerated Reader is an online reading programme which provides an individualised reading programme for every student according to their ability.

Why do we use this reading programme?

The English Language and English Literature GCSEs have changed radically in the last couple of years. Coursework has been abolished and so pupils’ grades are determined by the final exams at the end of Year 11. The exams themselves have also changed in numerous ways. English Language GCSE requires students to be able to read and analyse unseen 19th, 20th and 21st Century literary fiction and non-fiction texts. In addition, in the English Literature GCSE, more accessible texts like ‘Of Mice and Men’ have been removed from the syllabus and replaced with more complex texts such as ‘Dr Jekyll and My Hyde’. As you can imagine, both qualifications require a very high reading age and a wide range of reading experiences.
All pupils are required to sit both the English Language and English Literature GCSE, so it is essential that they are prepared for the rigours of these new exams. This is why Chulmleigh College is working so hard to create independent readers of all our pupils and there is no better way of teaching and monitoring their reading than the Accelerated Reader programme.
There are so many examples of pupils who have made outstanding improvements that it is hard to select a small sample. However, we would like to share a few exciting examples with you: in Year 7 a pupil who read thirty five books and raised her reading age by three years; whilst in Year 10 there was a pupil who, despite having struggled with reading in the past, read for half an hour a day and so increased his reading age by an impressive seventeen months. These pupils show just how much can be achieved with a regular reading habit.
Before coming to Chulmleigh, Miss Nunn, the Literacy Co-ordinator, spent five years working in the private sector where she used Accelerated Reader with great success to raise the reading, thinking and attainment levels of her pupils. What is so great about the programme is that it helps every individual student achieve their potential.
For information on how the programme works, please look at the attachment below.

For accessing Accelerated Reader at home please use this link.