Planning for Joyful Reading in 2027

“My reading’s got better. I’ve been practising more and it’s more interesting.” (Year 3 child)

Dedicated teachers care every day about every child on their list. This is why choosing a small group for an intervention can stir up all kinds of feelings, especially when resources are limited. I know this because when I was a researcher in an evaluation of a national pilot I heard from class teachers about the children that they had flagged for support and about the frustration that followed because the child’s school attendance fell below the threshold that would have qualified them to receive help with reading.

Teachers raised the same issue in every school and I realised that from the perspective of social equity and justice in education, there was a real need for a reading intervention that could support children with school attendance below 95 per cent. My doctoral research showed that a rhythm-based intervention supported children after only six weekly sessions of ten minutes. So, when I developed the Rhythm for Reading programme I could see the value in extending it to ten weeks in mainstream schools (15 weeks in special schools) so that children who did not attend school every week would still benefit from taking part if they participated in half of the sessions.

Do pupils in the reading intervention group need to be at the same stage?

When school leaders ask me about the criteria for selecting children for the Rhythm for Reading programme, they are often pleasantly surprised. First, they ask whether the children need to be at a similar stage in their reading journey and my response is always quite unexpected. The children do not need to be at the same point in their reading development. It is fine for a child who needs support with grapheme-phoneme correspondence to take part alongside a child who can decode but reads without expression and understanding. This is because the resources address several elements of reading simultaneously, for example children name musical notes, whilst also experiencing the length and shape of the phrases as musical stories.

Secondly, this programme is for lower-attaining readers, who take part in a group size of between five and ten. The flexibility in the size of the group depends on how well the children are likely to work together. If teamwork is something they are familiar with then a larger group size works well. If the children need to have a more individualised approach because they might find working in a group challenging then a smaller group size is a good option. Rhythm for Reading can also work in a weekly one-to-one session, but the child misses out on the social aspect of feeling part of a team and all the fun that the children experience when they take part together. In a group, the programme becomes something children look forward to each week.

Choosing pupils for a reading intervention

Some of the most effective teachers I’ve met have had an uncanny instinct for knowing how far they can push a child to try harder, to challenge them to go further and they eventually show them how much more they can achieve when a dedicated teacher believes in them. As the researcher dropping into a school and asking questions about the process of selecting children for an intervention, I noticed that teachers approached the process in the same way. They described the sensitivity with which they went about this task.

Rhythm for Reading is built on social inclusiveness and shared participation in rhythm-based activities, so rather than the child missing out on social opportunities, by being out of class, they are actually building social skills during the programme. I have always provided schools with information leaflets and letters to parents because I am keen that everyone is invested in children’s reading development and the activities that support reading. In one school I remember the head teacher contacting me as the father of one child asked if he could observe a session and he held a prominent role as a community leader. I was delighted to welcome him into the session, and asked for his feedback. He was very happy and told me I could continue to teach his son using this approach. This was part of a study I carried out after my PhD, funded by my department at UCL’s Institute of Education. Two research assistants assessed the children’s rhythm and reading, and found that the children in this school made excellent progress in reading accuracy, rate and comprehension.

When trying harder hasn't helped: A different kind of reading support

In my experience, many lower-attaining readers have already tried harder before they started Rhythm for Reading, and it didn’t change how reading felt. Imagine for a moment what that might be like. You tried harder. You read every day with an adult. You kept going. You felt motivated, hopeful and full of renewed self-belief. Some words became more familiar, but reading did not change. It was no less tiring and did not feel good. You decided it was not for you. Even worse than realising you’re not a reader, you knew you’d let down your teacher, your family and yourself. All before your eighth birthday, you were left worrying about key stage two and how you’d manage.

The children who are most fearful of failing at school reveal themselves by asking me the same question: “Is there any writing?”

When I tell them there’s no writing, spelling, letters or words, they are intrigued and want to know more. I say that we are using rhythm instead of words and that they will learn the musical skills they’d use in a band. I also add that it doesn’t matter if they don’t want to be in a band because this is just for ten minutes a week and finishes at the end of term. They are so curious that they are happy to give the rhythm sessions a try.

The teacher delivering the sessions needs to be skilled in maintaining just the right balance between structure and freedom. Most people know that managing a team requires a good balance between encouraging the development of individual talent and also keeping everyone ‘aboard the bus’, working together in a coherent way to achieve the goals of the team. It’s the same with Rhythm for Reading. In each session, we want every child to contribute their voice and to perform the rhythm-based actions with energy which means they feel comfortable to make a really strong contribution, but at the same time, only as a part of the group.

Music is wonderful for self-expression and in Rhythm for Reading, self-expression grows within a clear structure. The programme is highly structured and there are only three rhythm-based actions in the main part of the programme: clapping, marching, clapping combined with marching. For the sake of clarity, the actions are set out clearly in the universal ‘Session Planner’ which is used in every session of the programme and for every age group. Even though the sessions are defined and structured in a particular way, there is still plenty of joy and fun built into the music and children end every ten-minute session, saying ‘Already? That was quick!,’ and look forward to the next one.

Which pupils thrive in a rhythm-based reading group?

It is fascinating to see that each child finds their place in the group at different points in the programme. There are some who are very strong in the first session. They feel secure right from the start and provide a steadying influence for others as the group begins reading musical notation. The second week always begins with a new group of team leaders whose voices are consistent and strong. It is as if they needed a week to assimilate the information covered in week one, and then they show that their eyes move consistently across the musical notation, their recall of note names is consistent and they enjoy each new challenge as it is presented to the group as a whole. In week three, a new layer of leadership takes shape. The children who were not able to keep time in weeks one and two, often synchronise with the group in week three and their voices are the most prominent, carrying a new confidence as they discover what it feels like to be ‘in time’ and experience belonging in an entirely new way. You might wonder what becomes of the leaders in week one: their voices are still strong and still reliable, but part of something far greater than before. By week five, teachers often notice changes in their reading in class.

And yet before the programme began, these children had experienced one or more of five barriers to reading well. The children were:

1. Hearing some sounds of language as blurred or confusable

2. Decoding word by word

3. Reading without natural expression and fluency

4. Reading accurately and at pace but without processing the meaning of the words

5. Experiencing that their attention faded or scattered whilst reading

A reading intervention where children join in

Taking part in Rhythm for Reading is rather like being picked for a team. There’s a sense of belonging even before we begin our ten weekly sessions. The children know that they are helping one another by taking part and helping the school to keep the programme going by becoming good team members who support each other and contribute well every week. As the children become more accomplished as readers of musical notation, their self-expression expands and their inhibitions drop away. Teachers in mainstream schools notice a change in how the children behave in class:

“They see themselves as readers.” (KS2 teacher)

Every session is built on simple principles to build team synchrony, such as ‘No one is first and no one is last’. These clear guidelines remove the pressure to compete, to monopolise or to become the centre of attention. Sometimes, when a child seems to need to demonstrate what they have learned I ask them whether they want to read the music aloud by themselves. Sometimes this can be a memorable moment. For example, I remember a child (in a special school) with non-verbal speech, language and communication needs, who read two lines of musical notation aloud unassisted, after five weekly sessions of Rhythm for Reading.

For the most part, the children work as a team and synchronise their reading with rhythm-based actions, keeping in time with the music and one another. Their joy is often palpable, as their faces light up with the extent of their focus, whilst also having fun. Their friends gather around me saying, “Please let me be in your group! Please pick me!”

How we talk to parents about a reading intervention

How might we introduce this concept to parents? It’s a structured, research-based reading intervention, and a joyful ten-minute immersion in rhythm. In my opinion, parents would be delighted to know what’s happening and a short sentence is more than enough: “Your child has been chosen for a small music-based reading group. It’s ten minutes a week, and the children really enjoy it.” Perhaps parents might detect changes at home, and they might like to be invited to share what they’ve noticed, such as when children start reading books at home after school without being asked to. At the end of the ten weeks children sometimes read in secret under the bedclothes when their parents think they are asleep. Other children, as in this example, are more straightforward and started to read books at home, saying to me, “I used to just watch TV”.

Your professional judgement: support for pupils awaiting their diagnostic assessment

I was once asked by a civil servant which of the head teachers I’d interviewed were the most insightful educators. My reply was exactly what you would expect. I explained that all the head teachers and the teachers that I’d had the privilege to speak with were doing an incredible job serving their local community. All of them were insightful and had extraordinary expertise and commitment to their team, their pupils and their families. Everybody was pulling together and doing so with unwavering compassion and dedication. I didn’t single anyone out. I had seen incredible work in every school.

This is why I can say with confidence that teachers and leaders know their children well and they know the families too. I am aware though that in certain areas there is a backlog in terms of assessments for a diagnosis and some children are unable to access the curriculum. Without in any way diluting the intensity of these situations for everyone involved, in my view it would be ideal to have a teacher trained in rhythm-based teaching on the school team to support pupils for whom suspected SEND is something that the school is managing.

Planning for a spring term intervention, including pupils with irregular attendance

The ten-week structure of the programme was built to serve the children who are already flagged because of school attendance. In this way, Rhythm for Reading includes children whose attendance is irregular. The short ten-minute sessions are propelled by a fast pace of delivery and are highly structured and attention is so well supported that many pupils who find it hard to focus seem to enter a ‘flow state’ and the ten minutes appear to pass in a flash.

Teachers have often remarked that the short sessions mean that the programme could be slotted in between curriculum subjects, which would mean that the children would not miss any curriculum time at all. It’s also worth noting each child’s reading before and after the ten weeks, so progress can be seen.

If you’re choosing pupils for an intervention in the spring, download the free guide: 5 Signs Lower-Attaining Readers Need a Different Kind of Support.