Theme-based reading lessons designed specifically for special schools.

Rockerbox Reading Ladders allows you to bring reading into the real world, with theme-based lessons teaching functional reading, oracy, and life skills alongside vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension.

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Significantly reduce teacher workload.

Significantly reduce teacher workload.

Easy-to-follow lesson plans outline key learning objectives and criteria. Lesson packs are scaffolded 6 ways, including a level with Widgit symbols to support text.

Teach functional reading as part of English.

Easily teach functional reading as part of your curriculum.

Every Rockerbox lesson plan includes a functional text where readers learn vocabulary in order to apply it in a hands-on activity, bringing reading into the real world.

Support ASDAN life skills development.

Support ASDAN life skills development.

Every Rockerbox lesson plan includes life skills objectives that align with ASDAN’s Personal and Social development units, connecting reading to becoming confident and responsible individuals.

Get the flexibility you need.

Get the flexibility you need.

Rockerbox reading lessons can be completed offline or online through the Rockerbox system. Lessons offer options for challenge level, communication style, and accessibility needs.

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The Children Love It!

Rockerbox News is a fantastic reading resource for non-fiction text based on various topics. The topics are up to date and relevant. Many are subjects that the reader may have no previous knowledge of. They are written clearly and concisely, which quickly and effectively engages children to read more. Articles vary from bite-sized fact-based articles to much longer, complex texts, so it is very easy to provide differentiation. This differentiation really helps with children with English as an additional language and others with a lower standard of reading than their peers.

Olga Hopper, Assistant Head and EAL Lead for Suffolk
Ranelagh Primary School

We love sharing the leaderboards and being a part of a healthy competition!

Already, as a KS2 team, we are noticing improvements in engagement and enjoyment of non fiction reading – which Rockerbox News has helped to harness; especially with our tech-savvy, slightly more reluctant readers.
Chris Summerfield, Teacher
Pendeen School

Our Whole Journey as a School with Rockerbox News has Been So Well Organised

Our whole journey as a school with Rockerbox News has been so well organised and facilitated it has been excellent and our students love it.

Jim Robinson, Headteacher
JFK Special School

An Inclusive Platform

It is clear that Rockerbox is an inclusive, supportive, empowering and positive platform for all students, including those with additional needs.

Anna Speke
nasen

Genuinely Innovative!

The judges were impressed by the factual approach of this programme. The regularly updated resources, presenting current news items to children in ways that spark conversation and engagement is genuinely innovative.

The levels of differentiation across all key stages provide resources to engage all pupils and make the investment one that leaders and budget holders will see as benefiting the entire school.

The Judges 2023
Education Resource Awards

The Children in My Class Love Rockerbox News

The children in my class love Rockerbox News and ask to see how many articles each child has read. It has been a fun way to engage my reluctant readers and is a paperless resource for homework.

Lesley Corocan
St Anne's RC Primary School

Once Set Up, It Is Easy to Use.

Once set up, it is easy to use. Kayleigh and the team are so helpful and constantly provide updates and incentives for the children. We use Rockerbox News mainly for homework. We also use Rockerbox News to encourage children to read a wider variety of texts as well as for those children who mainly prefer reading non-fiction.

Hannah Blow, Teacher
Mosborough Primary School

Engages Children of ALL Ages and Abilities.

We have seen so much engagement from children who have been previously disengaged with so many things. For example, yesterday we had a child create his own survey based on an article he had read about otters in Singapore, which he then conducted with members of staff around the school. He was so proud of himself and so were we. Previously, this child wouldn’t even lift up a pencil!

Katie Rawlings, SENCo
Perran-Ar-Worthal CP School

The Children have Been Very Engaged with the Articles

The children have been very engaged with the articles and love to tell each other and the class teachers what they have discovered reading about. They enjoy the mix of pictures and text and the subjects written about. Having a view of how well the children answer questions has been useful for staff.

Flora Ellis, Deputy Headteacher
Sherborne Primary School

Where has Rockerbox News BEEN for the last 20+ years I’ve been teaching?

Rockerbox News is an innovative resource and method for teaching reading excellence. The whole system is highly flexible for teachers and the levelled articles match with phonic teaching schemes. As a headteacher and executive headteacher, Rockerbox News decreases the workload for teachers.

Sue Street
Executive Head and School Improvement Officer

Affordable Platform. High-Quality Texts.

Rockerbox News is a fantastic non-fiction platform which promotes reading for pleasure and supports children to become active global citizens, developing their understanding of the wider world – and their place in it. Rockerbox News gave me instant access to stimulating and informative articles;this not only saved me time as a teacher searching for appropriate fit-for-purpose articles but also enabled me to feel confident that all the children could access high-quality information that was appropriate for their age and reading ability.

Emma Gorman, Assistant Headteacher
Shiphay Learning Academy

Rockerbox News has Transformed Reading for Some of Our Young People.

We are so pleased that almost every child using Rockerbox News across our school has made quantifiable progress in their reading assessments. More importantly, they are enjoying reading. They read for pleasure, are keen to find new articles and share what they have learnt. Rockerbox News as a company is supportive, proactive and keen to listen to feedback. Having a school success manager means I know that any queries I have will be picked up quickly, which isn’t always the case with other providers.
Ellis Cooper, Year 5 Teacher
Stapleford Community Primary School

My Class Had Their First Go at Rockerbox News This Morning and Loved It!

Sam Addington, Teacher
Waberthwaite C of E School

All Schools Should Have This!

We have been using Rockerbox News since September 2022 and without a doubt, the platform has been the most well-received, cost-effective platform and intervention we have introduced for a long, long time. Extremely easy to set-up and administer, our subscription to Rockerbox News added thousands of short, non-fiction articles to the school library overnight…A great platform which brings great impact at a great price – all schools should have this!

John Moore, Headteacher
Sherborne Primary School

An All-Round Winner!

I don’t know many teenage boys who punch the air and shout “yes!” when they are told it is time for reading. Yet, that is exactly what is happening since we have started to use Rockerbox News in school. The students love the articles and are highly motivated to complete as many of the knowledge checkers as they can. As a teacher, it pleases me beyond measure to see their enthusiasm and engagement and it has also had the bonus of dramatically reducing my planning time.

Jackie Bushnell, Literacy Lead
JFK Special School
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Jade Reading Level

With Widgit symbols to support text.

Copper Reading Level

For reading ages 5-6

Silver Reading Level

For reading ages 6-7

Gold Reading Level

For reading ages 7-9

Platinum Reading Level

For reading ages 9-10

Diamond Reading Level

For reading ages 11+

Set the same activity at 6 different levels, for reading ages 5-11.

Every Rockerbox lesson plan comes with all of the texts and activities scaffolded to 6 different levels. British accent read alouds and translation tools empower digital independence in our online reading environment.

Download ready-made colourful semantics resources.

We create additional resources to support colourful semantics on our quizzes so you don't have to! We also provide photographs and videos so you can teach background knowledge and explore a topic through different mediums.
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The option for hands-on application gives reading meaning.

Every Rockerbox lesson includes the option for a hands-on activity. This could be anything from following written instructions for a recipe to writing a CV, bringing reading into the real world and encouraging social interaction whenever possible.

Meaningful insights support your teaching.

Every Rockerbox text is accompanied by a quiz, with questions shaped by Bloom's Taxonomy. Monitor progress over time with our easy-to-use teacher dashboards. Deep dive with Question Level Analysis.
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Learning Resources: