Secondary school

Secondary school can be stressful for students – even more so if they’re having to catch-up with their reading and spelling.

Wordshark has a lot to offer as a literacy intervention, and is one of the few products that can be used with older students:

1. Quirky games graphics are non-age-specific
2. Content ranges from cvc words through to complex multi-syllabic words, with the option to add your own
3. Settings, speeds and games options also make the program highly adaptable

Year 7 and 8 catch-up premium

Wordshark is the perfect tool for raising reading and spelling ages whilst maintaining motivation.

To meet catch-up premium criteria and to make a real impact, set aside 10 minutes a day to use Wordshark. You can work one-to-one with the student, or they can work independently with the option of completing tasks set by you.

Using Wordshark in secondary school:

• Students can work independently and at their own level and pace – without feeling judged and without comparing themselves to their peers.
• The word lists in the ‘Wordshark’ course make no reference to age or year group and you can exclude games that students might find too ‘young’.
• Wordshark is ideal for helping students with specific learning needs such as dyslexia, or those learning English as an additional language. Read more about Wordshark for SEND and for EAL.
• Wordshark provides a fun and effective way to learn Key Stage 3 subject vocabulary. The Secondary subject lists cover a wide range of subjects: Art, Citizenship, D&T, Drama, English, Geography, History, Maths, Music, RE, PE and Science. Sentence games provide practice of the words in context.
• You can add your own vocabulary, enter any choice of words, record the words and their definitions, and upload images.
• You can even enter other languages and translation lists into Wordshark.

Wordsearch game with geography words

Monitoring impact

An ‘add and manage students’ area means that each child can be set up in Wordshark for teachers to monitor progress and to forward-plan effectively. You can easily track individual progress and identify words they are finding difficult.

Wordshark has done so much for so many – it takes the tension out of intense learning.

I have been a Wordshark user for more years than I care to remember, both when working in the Dyslexia Base of a large Secondary School and in my own private practice. I have always been impressed by the product in every way, including how it keeps up to speed with current research and the changing needs of practice.

I have used Wordshark over 15 years. Originally this was in a Comprehensive school whose Learning Support Department had purchased a multi user program. I was supporting students with dyslexia and reading and spelling difficulties generally. This was teaching students in groups as well as 1:1 situations. Since retirement, I have taught some children with dyslexia privately 1:1, for which I purchased a single user Wordshark program. For both situations I found the program very useful and appealing to students. They can work as independently as possible and have choice of games to play. I can monitor them. The availability of Alpha to Omega phonic patterns as well as National Curriculum vocabulary is ideal to cater for individual students’ needs.