Success stories

Lauren Woolf is a primary school teacher with a passion for literacy and uses her site Changing the Tale to provide a hub for teachers, parents and carers to help children develop a love of reading and their literacy skills. Here, she gives her verdict on Clicker 8 and how its supportive features benefit pupils and teachers alike.

“Having thoroughly tested the software with different tasks, Clicker 8 appears to be ideal for all primary school aged pupils as it offers such a varied amount of support and challenge for learners, no matter their writing ability. It genuinely does help children to create meaningful pieces of writing, one sentence at a time.”

Cheryl Gaughan tells us how Clicker is raising enthusiasm for writing and giving a voice to children at Talbot Specialist School.

"Although I use it a lot with children who have SEND, the good thing about Clicker is that you can use it with both children who have SEND and those who don’t. A child doesn’t have to have a disability or a need, because it’s useful and engaging for every child. I think that’s the nice thing about it, is that it’s not seen as something that only SEND children can use but all children in any setting, too."

Sheila Robertson is a Principal Teacher at Wallacestone Primary in Falkirk. She works in the management team managing their PEF funding as well as a variety of children with different educational needs.

 "I can understand that for teachers who have been teaching for a number of years, the thought of using any kind of technology can be daunting, but this is something that is so user-friendly that anyone could begin using it. We have a vision across the school management that this will definitely fit into, so I would absolutely recommend Clicker to other schools."

Garnock Community Campus used some of their Pupil Equity Funding to purchase Clicker to help close the attainment gap.

"The real success of Clicker has been the way that it gives our young people who struggle to access the curriculum due to literacy challenges the confidence that they really can produce extended pieces of writing. It’s such a motivational tool, and it’s really helping pupils to reach their potential."

Recently, June Howard sent us a message to share how Clicker has made a world of difference to a year 9 student she works with – not only in terms of his learning, but also his behaviour in school and at home.

“He has behaviour and learning difficulties but since using Clicker his behaviour has improved immensely and he is now above target in 8 subjects - all the teaching staff are amazed at his improvement!"

Ricardo Morais is a class teacher at Oaktree Special School. He shares with us how they have been using Clicker, and the difference it has made to the students' writing confidence.

"When I consider the positive impact that Clicker is having, there’s one particular student who comes to mind in my class. Tom* was a very reluctant writer when he joined our school... But with Clicker, being able to customise the program so much gave Tom the confidence to have a go at writing. It’s fantastic, Tom has gone from writing very simplistically to wanting to write lots more."

Sally Bouwman tells us why she actively promotes the use of Clicker in all 19 Ark primary schools:

"We have found Clicker to be one of the most powerful assistive technology tools to implement in the primary setting with children experiencing reading and writing difficulties. The program addresses a lot of key areas and is particularly effective when used to support reluctant writers and children with weak writing stamina."

Anne Harris shares how St Joseph's are using Clicker to target dyslexia and increase writing confidence across the curriculum.

"For me, the best thing about Clicker is how it increases writing confidence. He knows that if he goes wrong or gets in a muddle with his spellings, it doesn’t matter because he can have another go and there is something there to support him and help him put it right. Not only did this improve his writing within Clicker; he has since been able to write much more with pen and paper too."

Kate McKay is using Clicker to support children of all ages at Dunnottar School, which caters for children with a range of physical and learning disabilities including cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome and autism.

"Within a day of their training, teachers were telling me of activities they had tried with their students and the fantastic success they were having along with the interest being shown by the students. They could see student self-esteem rising with each push of a button."

Emma Dibden has been using Clicker to increase student motivation and make writing more accessible for learners with literacy difficulties.

"From the anecdotal feedback from the children, there are several of them who were previously totally turned off by writing, but absolutely rave about it now they have Clicker! We’ve had their parents come in celebrating the amount of work they’re able to produce now, and the ideas they’re finally able to get down on paper. Clicker has really inspired and excited these children about writing, which is exactly what we had hoped for."