At Scanning Pens, we love it when schools go the extra mile for learners who need reading support. And sometimes we get a chance to meet the dedicated educators who are pushing the boundaries of what supporting neurodivergent learners can mean.

We were lucky to do that recently with a visit to Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School in Telford!

Going Red on the Road…

This week, as part of our celebrations for Go Red for Dyslexia, two of our Scanning Pens roving reporters, Jim and Katie, headed out into the heart of our local community in Telford to celebrate a school that’s truly going the extra mile when it comes to SEN support.

Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School has a glowing track record in award-winning provision for learners with Special Educational Needs. They were recently recognised with the award for Primary Providers of the Year at this year’s NASEN Awards, for the creation of a second dedicated space for SEN learning within the school.

Exploring Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School

Taking a wander around Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School, Jim and Katie found it actually fairly easy to see why they’ve been honoured with such an accolade from NASEN.

Their Patch for Reception and Key Stage 1 students and Den for Key Stage 2 students are their award-winning spaces that focus on teamwork, leadership and problem-solving. Hive is another SEND classroom space, for learners below expectations that provides support and confidence-building; and there’s also a dedicated TLC room for learners with Special Educational Needs that’s complete with a school dog (Bella, a four-year-old tan and black Phantom Cockapoo – we know you were going to ask).

Sharing our love of EdTech with the world!

As part of our celebration visit, Jim and Katie took pride in showing off the latest features of our flagship reading support, C-Pen Reader 2, to the educator squad at Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School.

Exploring these next steps in a SEN support journey really goes to show how valuable assistive tech can be for developing readers, and even offers them a new way to experience reading support during SATs —

Wait, what was that about SATs?

Yes! 2022 saw some new updates to STA Access Arrangements guidelines designed to help learners reach their full potential. Students with reading difficulties and those coming to English as an Additional Language (EALs) might have struggled to sustain reading growth in the learning environments of the past few years, but now they can be supported in their SATs by a C-Pen Reader 2 as a consistent and reliable reading aid, and an alternative to a human reader.

 It’s prepped for the task: designed with a built-in dictionary and storage function that can be used as a regular way of working, it can also be locked for exams, offering learners a seamless transition from teaching to assessing.

C-Pen Reader 2 is a powerful text-to-speech reading support that instantly relays the words on the page back to the reader via an audio feedback loop. But it’s not just a handy pen scanner — it’s a suite of reading supports that can be used to support readers in class work, exam prep, and now the exam hall too.

We’ve had an exciting Go Red for Dyslexia month at Scanning Pens, full of events, celebrations, fashionable red tees and watching our global dyslexia community get involved with all the fun on social media. It’s been an incredible privilege to see SEN support in action this week in a school that’s dedicated to creating inclusive, accessible and empowering spaces for students who learn and think differently, and share in some of the knowledge and expertise that these educators bring to the table every day.

 To find out more about the C-Pen Reader 2 and how it could revolutionise reading in your classroom, check out our website!