From David Hutchings, Exeter 382594, July 12, 2007

HUNDREDS of children in Devon are set to benefit from a pioneering reading programme which has been successfully piloted in the county this year.

Every Child A Reader is targeted at some of the least able six-year-old readers in Devon.

And the intensive, one-to-one teaching has already shown massive gains in reading ability.

Eighty five per cent of the Devon children who took part in the county pilot this year have gone from not being able to read at all to reading at the level expected for their age.

Many of these 113 children have made two years' progress in reading age with around 38 hours of specialist teaching.

Over the past year, 20 schools across the county have taken part in the pilot. Now it is to be expanded to other schools.

And some of the teachers who have qualified in the Reading Recovery programme will share their skills with colleagues next year.

The 11 newly qualified Reading Recovery teachers and eight who have updated their qualifications were presented with their certificates by Devon County Council Chief Executive Phil Norrey at a special ceremony.

Dr Norrey said: "It is estimated nationally six per cent of children leave primary school each year well below the expected literacy level for their age.

"That means they often struggle in secondary school and do not obtain the qualifications they need to get a fulfilling job.

"Reading Recovery allows children to make great progress in their reading and there is considerable evidence to show they maintain that progress throughout their school careers and carry on developing with their peers."

Devon County Council has received £200,000 from the Government this year towards running the Every Child A Reader project and this has been shared between 20 schools.

Devon is the only education authority in the far South West to have been invited to take part in the project.

The national director of Every Child A Reader, Jean Gross, said: "There are 27 local education authorities in this scheme and Devon is one of the best.

"Within these 20 schools in Devon there is a really strong cohort of experts and our next task is to spread that more widely."

She said Devon's 85 per cent of children moving from not being able to read at all to reading at the level expected for their age compared with a national figure of 77 per cent.

"That is a truly remarkable achievement," she said.

Devon County Council's Primary Strategy Consultant with responsibility for Reading Recovery, Janet Ferris, said: "The Every Child A Reader project has turned an aspiration into reality. Schools can now afford to intervene early in a child's development with specialist one-to-one teaching.

"I think what our teachers have achieved is phenomenal - they have literally changed the futures of so many of our most vulnerable children, and now with continued funding, they will continue to change many more futures."

Every Child A Reader has two sections. Firstly specialist literacy teachers trained in Reading Recovery are placed in schools to provide intensive one-to-one support to those children most in need.

The project also aims to explore the potential for those teachers to support tailored literacy teaching more broadly within a school, beyond those receiving intensive one-to-one support.

The newly qualified Reading Recovery teachers and their primary schools are:

Cullompton: Kate Jones, Willowbank and St Andrew's

Exeter: Alison Jones, St Leonard's, Pat Yeo, Willowbrook and Helen Mewse, Countess Wear

Exmouth: Clare Hollingsworth, Withycombe Raleigh, Tina Tapp, Marpool and Sara Thornhill, Littleham

Bampton: Helen Steele, Bampton

Ruth Cornish, Woolacombe

Eve Carpenter, St John's,Tiverton

Sue Gaskin, Dartington

The teachers who have updated their Reading Recovery training are:

Barnstaple: Liz Callachan, Sticklepath and Jacqui Jewell, Ashleigh

Exeter: Lynn West, Exwick

Teignmouth: Jo Farrimond, Inverteign

Alison Carter, St Andrew's, Buckland Monachorum

Julia Webber, Ashburton;

Sandie Chope, Lynton

Beryl Piper, Morchard Bishop

NOTE TO NEWS EDS: For more information contact Janet Ferris,

Primary Strategy Consultant /Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Devon County Council, on 01392 386461