Case Study
Trinity Academy Leeds
Adam Levick is a Teacher of Reading at Trinity Academy Leeds.
He found himself taking on a new role at a school where Lexonik had already been selected to form part of their literacy delivery.
A total of 400 students were screened and prioritised for intervention.
Here, he shares his thoughts and experiences.
Thanks so much for taking time to be with us Adam. You clearly have such a passion for reading, and hail from a background as a primary specialist. Tell us more:
That’s right, I joined the Academy in January 2024, having responded to an advert for the role of Teacher of Reading. I was told that the programme they already decided to use was Lexonik… which I knew nothing about, but was excited to learn.
So how did you gather insight and education?
I started by going home and learning as much as I could initially. It was fascinating.
My real education came via the training from the Lexonik trainers – in both Leap and Advance, as I have responsibility for delivering them both.
What had been the reason for the school choosing Lexonik over other interventions?
First, it’s quick and easy to deliver.
Also, really importantly – it’s pitched at secondary students.
From my understanding, a lot of phonics interventions could be quite childish and immature, which has a danger of putting our pupils off from engaging.
It also came highly recommended from other schools around the area, as well as across the country.
Other literacy leads had told us they had had brilliant results.
How was the training?
Amazing.
The trainer went through every step with us in a really thorough way and made sure we understood.
They went through each step and let us practice with each other in a way which allowed us to feel what it would be like as a student as well as a teacher.
It was actually quite fun, as well as the fact we were learning so much.
What about onward support?
We had an email address for the trainer so that we knew we could reach out if we had queries.
We also got training on the induction as well as the Cloud, so we would know how to track the interventions for their effectiveness.
Is there anything particular about the cohort of students at your school, which you felt might pose an added issue or require a particularly special intervention?
Our school has a high percentage of multilingual learners, around 70% of our Year 7, 8 & 9 students have English as a second language. This is higher than the national average but in line with our local community and the Burmantofts and Harehills area. The school recognised we needed to prioritise phonics instruction for our learners, many of whom had limited levels of conversational English.
What have your colleagues said about the programmes Lexonik provides?
They’re very impressed by it too.
They see how good it is for people whose reading age is behind or for whom English is not their first language.
I genuinely think my colleagues feel fulfilled using it and enjoy seeing the results.
One colleague is supporting a deaf student enrolled on the programme and has been impressed by the programme generally but particularly impressed in the impact it’s had on him and his confidence.
How do you maintain relationships and communication with other staff about the programme and the student progress?
I circulate a regular phonics newsletter, which identifies who is going through the programme and what sounds they’re working on. I work really closely with the SENCo so they’re always up to speed.
In addition to this, I like to make sure we celebrate progress, so we have a Beautiful Work assembly so that those who are ‘graduating’ Leap are celebrated and given a certificate.
You’ve managed to develop additional resources to complement Leap, haven’t you? Can you share more?
On recognising the significant level of need with the multilingual learners I was working with, many not having any prior experience of an SSP programme (systematic synthetic phonics), I developed resources to extend Leap and in particular to increase the number of graphemes.
I spent time analysing their curriculum areas and identified further graphemes to introduce, based on the frequency in their texts. I’ve produced resources and interwoven these in with the Leap activities and product resources. The flexible nature of the programme has made it really easy to do this.
On top of this, I produced additional materials to allow for practise and consolidation (even after graduation). I’m also supporting curriculum staff to improve their awareness and confidence with phonics-based instruction so they can adopt this in their teaching practice.
What would you say to anyone considering Lexonik as an intervention?
Definitely do it. The training is great, it’s a really effective approach and you can track the progress students are making.
You won’t look back.
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