A reading log children ask to fill in.
Pupils log a book, answer a few questions to show they read it, and earn gems and ribbons for the effort. You see who is reading, who has stalled and what is landing, without marking a thing.
A signature shows a book was signed, not that it was read.
Nobody can tell a read book from a skimmed blurb
A parent signs the log at the end of a busy evening. The teacher has no practical way to check, so the log becomes a record of intentions.
The book and the reader never get compared
Children drift towards books that are far too easy or far too hard, and it often goes unnoticed until the next assessment.
Rewards end up as a sticker chart
Counting books rewards volume over effort, and tracking it by hand costs the teacher time they do not have.
Three steps, and none of them is marking.
A child can finish the whole loop in a couple of minutes at the end of a book. Nothing reaches a teacher unless it needs a person.
Log the book
The pupil finds the title. Anything unrecognised or blocked goes to a teacher queue and never reaches the child as a question.
Show you read it
A short set of VIPERS style questions, written for that book and marked on what the answer says. Flagged answers wait for the teacher.
Earn it, then review it
Gems and ribbons arrive straight away. The pupil adds a star rating and what they liked most, which classmates can see before they choose.
One scale for the reader and the book.
Pupils and books are scored on the same measure, so the gap between them is a number rather than a hunch.
Gems scale with that gap. A book a little above a child's Fathom is worth more than a comfortable re-read, which points the incentive where a teacher would point it.
Three loops that children already understand.
Money, trophies and a vote. Gems and ribbons run in every class all year. Voting is the teacher's switch.
Ribbons
Awards, earned and never bought, so a child's collection has variety instead of a row of identical trophies.
- First book loggedOnce
- A genre new to the readerWidening taste
- A stretch above their FathomReading up
- A book nobody else has readTrailblazing
- A ribbon from the teacherFor effort
Gems
The spendable currency. Every award is a line in a ledger, so you can always see where a total came from.
- The Iron Man+42
- Fantastic Mr Fox+24
- Charlotte's Web+38
Reward votes
Open a round and the class spends its tokens on what it wants to work towards. Tokens belong to the round, so a term's vote reflects that term's reading.
Built around the time a primary teacher actually has.
Joining takes a minute
A class code, a first name and a short PIN, made of digits, letters or icons. No pupil email addresses, which suits children on family devices.
A code parents can scan
One QR join code per class, sized for a book bag letter, so reading at home lands in the same place as reading in school.
Moderation runs first
Each title passes a blocklist, a library lookup and a separate moderation check before a question is generated. Anything unclear waits for you.
You see the class, not the admin
Who is reading, who has stalled, which books are landing, and the few submissions that need a person.
What teachers ask first.
How do pupils sign in?
With the class code, their first name and a short PIN, which can be digits, letters or icons. There are no email accounts for children.
Can a child guess their way through the questions?
The questions are written for the specific book and marked on what the answer says. Anything flagged goes to you to review.
Does the marking penalise spelling or short answers?
No. Spelling, grammar and length are ignored. The marking looks at whether the answer shows the child read the book.
What if a child logs an unsuitable book?
Titles are checked before any question is written. Unrecognised or blocked titles go to your queue and the child is not shown them.
Can I switch class voting off?
Yes. Voting is the one optional layer. Gems and ribbons stay on for every class, and a class with voting off simply does not see a vote panel.
What does the pilot cost?
Nothing for the pilot term. We want a few classes to use it properly and tell us where it falls short, and you can stop at any point.
Take one class through a term.
We are looking for a small number of UK primary classes to read with this academic year. Tell us your year group and roughly how many pupils.
hello@readingribbon.co.uk
Free for the pilot term. Stop whenever you like.