Pilot Study: Keswick, Cumbria, UK

During a visit to South Africa, teacher Donna Walker saw Audiblox in action at a school in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Mrs Walker decided to introduce Audiblox at her school, the Trinity CE Junior School in Keswick, a small town in Cumbria, UK.

In November an Audiblox pilot study commenced. Eleven children, with an average age of 9 years and 9 months, and at the time the poorest readers in the school, were selected for the study. Schoolblox, a classroom version of Audiblox, was used as the method of intervention.

Four times per week, for half an hour before school, these children attended the lessons. When the study ended a few days before Good Friday, a total of 56 half-hour lessons had been conducted.

At the end of the pilot study the parents were sent a questionnaire and asked to judge their children’s improvement in various areas on a 5-point scale, 1 indicating “don’t agree at all” and 5 “agree completely”. Areas that had to be judged were reading fluency, reading comprehension, willingness to read, enjoyment of reading, attitude to homework, ability to concentrate, spelling, handwriting, memory and self-confidence. Below are the average scores that were allocated to the various areas:

Children who do Audiblox often win awards and prizes. The children who participated in this pilot study were no exception. Already at the end of the first term three of the eleven children were chosen by their class teachers to receive awards for having made the most progress in tables tests since October. At the beginning of the third term Daniel was awarded 1st prize and Jack 2nd prize for a home project. Considering that 70 children participated this is a phenomenal achievement.

But the best of all is that each of these children read aloud in front of 300+ people during their school’s Easter Service!

Mrs Walker wrote: “I am what is known as ‘An Experienced Classroom Teacher.’ Euphemistically that might also mean that I’m inclined to be cynical and suspicious of programmes which make extravagant claims. In fact, I was intrigued!

“So began a twelve month correspondence with Susan du Plessis, and the introduction of a Schoolblox trial at my junior school in Keswick. As Audiblox was untried in the UK, I was (rightly) not allowed to take the children out of lessons, so for thirty minutes, from Monday to Thursday, my group of eleven and I would meet in my classroom before the school day officially started. I knew from the start that this study would have to be far shorter than the recommended minimum time of twenty four weeks, but that its hoped-for success would open the way to a much longer trial in school time. Armed with immense enthusiasm and armfuls of packs of little coloured cubes, I could not have been prepared for the results that were obtained after only fifteen weeks of following the programme. The children averaged a ten month improvement on the NFER Sentence Completion test, and a rise in self esteem that seemed to add a metre to their height. Their teachers were delighted, their parents astounded, and as for me… well, we are about to take a decision to begin Audiblox with an entire class from September. When I put the parents’ questionnaires on the Head’s desk at the end of March I decided to let the results speak for themselves. Having read them, his comment was, ‘Donna, I can’t ignore these results. Where do you want to go with this?’ Where, indeed? I just want every teacher, experienced or otherwise who has ever sat down late at night and thought, ‘There’s got to be a better way…’ to know that there is, and that it’s called Audiblox!”