What is Giglets?
Giglets is an online literacy resource used by thousands of teachers and pupils. Giglets allows you to share texts and activities that your pupils will love to work on whether they are in school or at home.
Giglets includes an accessible and ever-expanding library of colourful and enjoyable texts in over 35 languages. Pupils are engaged before they have even begun to read, drawn in by enhanced texts that include: audio support, illustrations, animations and theme music.
Each pupil's reading and learning experience is supported by interactive tasks and questions focussed on reading comprehension and higher-order thinking. The rich selection of texts encourages independence and improves pupils' motivation to read.
Try Giglets and support your pupils as they learn to love to read.
Educational Impact
Additional evidence
Feb 2021
How Fenwick Primary Added Value To The Reading Experience, UK
Feb 2021
Reducing Planning and Marking Time, UK
Oct 2021
An Inclusive Resource at St. Andrew's Primary School
Oct 2021
How GEMS Uses Giglets to Support EAL Learners
Nov 2022
Using Giglets to Support Reading into Writing
 Company | Business Name: Giglets HQ Location: United Kingdom Founded: 2011 |
| Age Range | 0-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14-16 |
 Features | MessagingReading Test QuestionsDifferentiated TasksMonitoring And TrackingReportingGive Student FeedbackAudioHigher Order Thinking Skills QuestionsMarkingAccessible FontsFont Size Options |
 Languages | Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic; Gaelic, Irish, Akan, Albanian, Bengali, Danish, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Manx, Nepali, Pashto, Pushto, Polish, Portuguese, Panjabi, Punjabi, Romanian, Moldavian, Moldovan, Russian, Somali, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Welsh, Yoruba |
 Accessibility | Robust features |
 Policies |  Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyGDPR |
 Requirements | Internet - Low BandwidthInternet - High BandwidthDesktop - MacDesktop - WindowsDesktop - ChromebookDesktop - LinuxMobile - iPhoneMobile - iPadMobile - WindowsMobile - Android Giglets is an online, browser-based resource and can be accessed on any device with an up-to-date browser. Installation is not required. Teachers and students will have individual logins to access Giglets both in school and from home. |
 Set Up | Setting up is very straightforward. Simply add your teacher and pupil accounts and you are ready to go! |
 Training | In PersonLive Online We recommend a whole staff training session to introduce the resource and support successful implementation. We can also support you with tailored CPD sessions on securing best practice in your literacy provision. |
 Support | EmailPhone Support |
| Home Learning | Parent Access School must create the account. Subscriptions are available to schools but Giglets can be accessed both in school and from home. |
 Tags | Literacy educationOnline literacy resourceLiteracy resourcesTeaching reading activitiesreadingwritingLiteracy teaching and learningTeaching reading in primary schoolLiteracy and language teachingResources for teachersTeaching English language and literacyliteracycomprehensionschool reading booksreading into writingenglishenglish readingenglish writingguided group readingreading for pleasure |
Giglets PricingPricing Plans Paid Subscription Giglets pricing starts from £1200 / year School subscriptions are on an annual basis and typically range from £1200 - £2000 per annum depending on school size and subscription options.  Optimised for a quick response | |
 Special Offer | 10% discount for EdTech Impact users |
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Giglets Reviews
from 36 Verified Reviews
User rating
Country
Anna Orsini
Strategic Lead for School Improvement
Used Giglets occasionally for 1-2 years
Apr 2024
It is great for primary students. More SEND and Higher interest books for lower ability students.
Anna Orsini found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“We have a Trust discount for SEND provisions”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Providing access to a wide range of books”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“Promoting a love of reading through the ability to read and listen to stories.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“Some parents have liked being able to share books in home languages.”
- Moderately improves attainment“Pupils are reading more”
Dec 2023
Giglets is a fantastic resource which is easy to use for adults and children alike. It provides a wide range of texts which are levelled to suit all learners and provides linked follow up activities which can be sent back to teachers to assess.
Katy found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“Not having to buy class sets of books. Saves on paper for follow up questions/activities.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Easy to search and find suitable texts at the correct level for your whole class. Follow up activities are readily available and don't need to make your own or find from other sources.”
- Significantly reduces attainment gap“Giglets allows for a personalised and differentiated approach to ensure all learners needs are being met in terms of their Literacy. Due to having access to Giglets on ipads, children can use accessibility features to further support them on their reading journey.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“We haven't yet set up our parental side of Giglets but I know once we do it will be very beneficial.”
- Significantly improves attainment“Children are accessing a wide range of texts and are supported to challenge themselves. It allows for work to be set at the correct level.”
Dec 2023
An excellent resource. A worthwhile investment.
Jarlath Canney found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“We are not buying new books, they are being uploaded on the online library.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Easy to use and many resouces already on the system.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“There are many tools tht support the reading process such as highlighting and text colour etc.”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“Books are set and parents are interested in using giglets with their children.”
- Moderately improves attainment“Lower Ability children are enjoying reading”
Dec 2023
Easy to use, quality resources and useful tools
Kimberley found Giglets:
- Does not significantly save school money“Online texts mean less physical books purchased”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“I have used texts for lessons instead of creating my own”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“Some reading progress shown as a result of regular use”
- Does not significantly improve parent engagement“Some parents still not engaged”
- Slightly improves attainment“NA”
Dec 2023
It is a very useful resource, but the cost can be prohibitive for many schools and there are limits to the resources. It can also be very difficult to implement it within a class unless the technological infrastructure is in place to allow an entire class to access the service simultaneously. Bandwidth is a major factor in the limit of using Giglets at the moment for many schools.
Richard found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“Less need to buy new books, lower cost on printing resources”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“The HOTS and reading test questions being organised is very helpful. Marking can be more complicated than if it was in books, as you have to load each record individually, but it can still reduce workload if done well.”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“Allocation of suitable resources is easy, but not significantly more than using physical resources.”
- Does not significantly improve parent engagement“A few parents like to engage, but most rely on in-class use only.”
- Slightly improves attainment“It is useful for attainment, but doesn't significantly improve it. I find it more of a tool to allow me to support learners and meet them where they are. This has the biggest impact, but relies on suitable use.”
Dec 2023
I think it is a useful tool for teaching reading and gives a wide range of books.
Catherine found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money
- Does not significantly reduce teacher workload
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“I can see how it would due to the HOTS questions linking with assessments but we are not quite there in our journey as a school yet.”
- Does not significantly improve parent engagement“Unfortunately we have had very little uptake and only 2 parents came to the parent session last year but we are still working on this.”
- Slightly improves attainment
Dec 2023
The texts are enjoyable and engaging for learners. Questions are provided to practise comprehension skills.
Emma found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“It's an investment in the teaching and learning of reading.”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“Higher order reading questions are provided for you and general resources to support reading lessons.”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“We haven't got enough data to assess the impact yet.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement
- Moderately improves attainment
May 2022
Some of the activities were difficult for the pupils compared to book level.
Caryn found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“.”
- Does not significantly reduce teacher workload“The activities could be used "off the shelf"”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“Possibly could be used as homework which may help.”
- Slightly improves attainment“It's part of a suite of resources used in school.”
Feb 2022
Absolutely wonderful resource all round. I only give it 9 as it doesn’t cover all topics/genre YET! I appreciate the library is constantly growing! The training provided is second to none also.
Nicky Turner found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“Will save on resourcing group readers and the physical library in the future.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Ready planned activities and the ability to adapt to suit your class. Training ideas help also as they give tips and resources that can be used across the curriculum. Lovely little toolkit!”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“We are yet to measure this but it has increased the children’s interest in reading.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“We have not looked into this as yet.”
- Slightly improves attainment“Again we have no measure of this at present.”
Samantha Lindsay
Acting Principle Teacher
Used Giglets weekly for 3-4 years
Feb 2022
I love the visuals and music sounds which come with the books. Pupils really engage with learning through their iPads and enjoy completing the assigned activities.
Samantha Lindsay found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“As we have access to online reading materials and resources we have felt less pressure to sources other literacy materials therefore school money is spent on other aspects of the curriculum which aren’t as easily accessible as Giglets.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Books are accessed quickly via the Library tab and with one click pre prepared activities can be assigned. Before Giglets teachers would be required to create their own abloom activities and would also require time for translations too.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“Giglets can be accessed by all pupils in school and at home through their own personal log in. Books are assigned by teachers to suit pupils correct levels and stages.”
- Significantly improves parent engagement“Teachers can assign books for Homework tasks which encourages parents to work with their children and learn with them. It gives them easy access to Gaelic materials at home.”
- Slightly improves attainment“Easily accessible resources for all stages and levels.”
Feb 2022
Giglets has been really useful particularly for our SEND and EAL pupils who have found it more difficult to engage either with texts that are not in their own language, or have SPLD and found the text types and vocabulary in a number of books difficult to access. The fact the books are on line is an added bonus for a number of our reluctant boys!
Jo Marchant found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“Having an online resource of multicultural texts has been a huge saving in terms of not having to buy individual texts in a multitude of languages.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Previously teachers would have to try and find our dual language texts around the school, borrowing from each others classrooms”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“Too soon to tell”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“Our EAL parents have really enjoyed engaging with texts in their own language and some are reading more with their children.”
- Slightly improves attainment“Too soon to say”
Feb 2022
Giglets has been a fantastic resources across all primary classes. It has been great to have a new resources full of Gaelic texts, new and unexplored by pupils and staff! The resources are really beneficial and supportive of the benchmarks and CfE levels. An all round great and intuitive resource.
Sarah Ferguson found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“Having an array of books available digitally, and being able to assign books to individuals, groups and whole classes without having to worry about number of paper copies in school.”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“The ease of assigning books to pupils and groups. The tasks avaialble to assign also. The ideas for teaching reading skills linked to texts at different levels of CfE with the addition of differentiation in multi-composite classes. The resources are fantastic which can be used for various levels and learning intentions. The links to Experiences and Outcomes is also very beneficial.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“Again, the range or texts, resources that can be assigned and taught with pupils who require extra support. The texts which have audio available is very useful for children to improve literacy and reading skills. Also the features of adjusting background and font for all pupils, not just children with Dyslexia is an added advantage.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“This is something we have not explored as much. The messaging function was very helpful during the periods of remote learning.”
- Moderately improves attainment“The range of texts available and the opportunity of having an unseen text is great for the Gaelic language due to lack of resources in this area of Gaelic Medium Education. The reading assessments and comprehension tasks makes the literacy experiences and outcomes engaging and it is an additional tool for assessing reading and literacy.”
Feb 2022
Although it is a very good online reading opportunity- the disruption to school due to covid and varied engagement by staff , parents and pupils unfortunately hasn’t impacted as successfully as hoped.
Colin Jenkins found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“Online resources don’t become worn out.”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“During lockdown this supported the school to get good activities out to pupils.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“A great bank of reading material available to all.”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“Pupils can work with pupils on reading development.”
- Slightly improves attainment“Those who engage attain.”
Feb 2022
It is a tool enjoyed by learners and staff, the support we receive from the giglets team is second to none- staff training opportunities, network meetings and how well they respond to our suggestions is impressive.
Linsey Owens found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“Less books being purchased as learners are able to access texts at home and school digitally”
- Slightly reduces teacher workload“The website has lots of useful resources to support learning and teaching. The ideas are inspiring and staff have saved time researching for ideas and tasks on other websites.”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“.”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“We have led parent workshops in school to support parents with using Giglets at home, those who have attended have engage more following training sessions. We have trained the children in the juniors to be more independent with using giglets so that they arent over reliant on parents.”
- Slightly improves attainment“.”
Feb 2022
Giglets allows for home working as well as school tasks. It is easy to navigate and encourages independent learning. Pupils enjoy the books as they have colourful illustrations and music. A very helpful feature is the audio, allowing pupils to hear and see the words while reading.
Aileen Wood found Giglets:
- Does not significantly save school money
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“Close reading & higher order thinking skills questions are already prepared.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“I found that Giglets stories & tasks kept pupils engaged during lockdown and also allowed for independent working. This meant that pupils with literacy difficulties were able to maintain, and improve, their literacy skills.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement
- Moderately improves attainment“See above”
Feb 2022
I feel that there is a big jump from the bright star to the red balloon books i.e. wordless texts to tricky text. Although learners can access the read aloud tool - we still encourage learners to use their reading skills and many of our lower ability readers who are reading short simple sentences, find this hard. There needs to be something in between the bright star and red balloon to bridge this.
Hannah Jones found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money“Learners have access to the online resources which does save on photocopying (as we are a large school). Online literature and resources reduces the case of losing books and lowers the cost of replacing them.”
- Slightly reduces teacher workload“Resources are readiy available and can be assigned easily to pupils. Some of the features allows learners to access activities and learning independently.”
- Slightly reduces attainment gap“N/A”
- Significantly improves parent engagement“Lot's of children do not have literature at home and do not have stories read to them. Learners can access online resources - and independently if needed. The 'read aloud' feature is great for this as there are times when parents are busy. Children with parents who have low confidence with reading themselves, are still able to have stories read to them.”
- Significantly improves attainment“Children enjoy accessing Giglets on the iPads or Chromebooks etc because there is an element of fun with this. When reading is pleasurable, learners want to engage and this in turn has an impact on their reading skills.”
Feb 2022
At pontnewydd the pupils love using Giglets. They love having their own account that they can use in school and at home. They enjoy having a record of books that they have read. They also love the theme music and fantastic illustrations!
Alice Wilkinson found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“Having a online resource is fantastic - We do not have to buy packs and packs of books for guided reading anymore! The books are far more engaging too!”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Teachers no longer have to think of HOT questions themselves, they are already available to them after each book!”
- Significantly reduces attainment gap“Giglets engages reluctant readers - we have seen a significant improvement in reading for pleasure since introducing the resource, leading to an improvement in attainment.”
- Significantly improves parent engagement“Parents enjoy being able to use the resource at home. It helps those who may not have physical reading books at home.”
- Significantly improves attainment“Pupil engagement.”
Lorraine Cadwallader-Jones
Deputy Head
Used Giglets weekly for 3-4 years
Feb 2022
This resource has worked really well for us in Mainstream, ALN and EAL
Lorraine Cadwallader-Jones found Giglets:
- Moderately saves school money“ability to have a range of texts for class and group activities without huge cost and storage”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“The text are already mapped to activities and follow up”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“good range of subject and genre to work on motivated readers”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“Covid has not helped us to promote face to face recently”
- Significantly improves attainment“whole class and group differentiated and easy to move to next stage”
Marc Bowen
Deputy Head and Year 5 Classteacher
Used Giglets daily for 1-2 years
Dec 2021
Giglets is an excellent teacher resource, supporting by outstanding half termly/termly network meeting events, where staff can access training and the latest updates are showcased. The ever growing library of texts is impressive, as is the willingness that the Giglets team show to engaging with customers to tailor their offering more precisely. Joining Giglets has felt like joining a reading community of passionate educationalists, rather than just a subscription based resource. The versatility of Giglets to support whole class teaching and individual reading development is a real benefit and proves value for money.
Marc Bowen found Giglets:
- Slightly saves school money
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“It has provided me with model texts to support my whole class teaching, saving me time in trying to source and digitise texts to share with the class. I also use it daily as part of my Guided Group Reading, as I know that the Higher Order Thinking Skills tasks are well matched to each text; I don't have to spend time generating these for myself.”
- Significantly reduces attainment gap“During lockdowns, it has proved invaluable as a way of ensuring that all children could access a broad library of reading materials whilst at home. The Higher Order Thinking Skills tasks also allow daily practise of these skills.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“Many parents reported that Giglets was very useful support to Blended Learning during periods of lockdown.”
- Moderately improves attainment“Again, the access to high quality reading materials, which are linked to the HOTS tasks help to provide daily, high quality reading and comprehension activities for the children.”
Nov 2021
Giglets has great features for help to teach reading. It is constantly adding new books and with the addition of further books I would definitely give it a 10.
Patricia Karen Wilson
Principal Teacher Raising Attainment
Used Giglets weekly for 1-2 years
Nov 2021
I cannot find anything I don't like about Giglets. One of the most important points for our school is, that pupils can use Giglets very well. Working in a school for pupils with Additional Support Needs, teachers often find that pupils struggle with new technology and need a lot of practice to be able to use the technology correctly. This is not the case with Giglets. I trained my pupils how to use Giglets in three lessons. I have a very wide range of literacy abilities in my class and all pupils were able to use Giglets correctly to access books, complete reading tasks and use the chat feature (which they love). It is not often that this occurs. My colleagues who use Giglets agree that this is the same with their pupils. We hardly have any problems with the system and if there is a problem with a login etc then I as the administrator, can fix it easily and quickly. The Giglets Helpdesk is always very willing to help with problems and they are easy to contact. Seona has been very supportive regarding setting up Giglets initially and in informing us about training sessions for staff. In summary, I think Giglets really enhances pupils' learning.
Patricia Karen Wilson found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“The school buys less reading materials”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“A good example of a reduction in teacher workload, is the Reading Test questions and Hots questions that accompany the reading books in Giglets. After reading texts, a teacher would have to create and produce their own reading tasks for pupils.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“I would say Giglets contributes to closing the attainment gap. For example, pupils in lower income areas have the same access to reading books and associated tasks as pupils in more affluent areas. I also believe that having access to online reading books at home encourages parents to become more involved in their child's learning. Technology appeals to people and pupils enjoy showing their parents how Giglets works.”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“I think Giglets does engage parents as it involves technology which is appealing to people of all ages. I also believe that for some parents who may have literacy difficulties themselves and cannot read a book with their child, will get pleasure in being able to listen to a book with their child and be involved in their child's learning.”
- Significantly improves attainment“I have seen improvement in reading ability in some of the pupils in my literacy classes. Even reluctant readers are keen to explore Giglets and see what it is like. The fact that the reading test questions are designed in such a way that they eliminate the need for a lot of writing, appeals to pupils who find writing difficult and laborious. With the thought of a lot of writing removed, the pupils seem to focus more on a story and enjoy it. Often pupils ' abilities of discussing a book are far beyond their writing abilities.”
Nora McCrorie
Principal Teacher
Used Giglets weekly for 1-2 years
Nov 2021
Giglets is a great resource. The support from the Giglets team (Seona) is invaluable. All requests are listened to and changes made where appropriate. Continuous support with updates is really helpful. Great to see that resources are being continually added to. The option to upload/adapt reading activities is very helpful. Also, input at authority level at Literacy Leaders events supports the strategic approach across the authority. SAC team now using Giglets texts which means more resources prepared for busy teachers. Support in school with delivery of bespoke training sessions has been great. (Planning to organise Parent Workshop and will again be accessing support of the Team.
Nora McCrorie found Giglets:
- Moderately saves school money“Saves money on purchasing reading books/texts.”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“All the pre-prepared materials are a great resource for teachers. Assessment results can be added to pupil portfolios- good to have access to the data. The access to a range of texts saves a great deal of time for teachers. The fact that they are all book banded also a plus. Access to Giglets at home helps with time management. Home Learning Sessions - godsend! Teachers able to share what's happening in the classroom. Also saves time on homework preparation.”
- Significantly reduces attainment gap“Pupils engage very well with Giglets. The Giglets tools make reading accessible for all pupils. Pupils feel that they are using the same resources as their peers - improves self-esteem and confidence. Particularly in upper classes, differentiated work is less obvious. Pupils also involved in choice of texts for groups etc. This means interests are being catered for. Hoping to embed Giglets into reading programme, looking forward to seeing the impact longer term.”
- Slightly improves parent engagement“Due to the global pandemic, we have more limitations with regard to parental involvement. However, parents have intimated that they like their children using Giglets, they find it easy to navigate. The fact that it's an online resource also help. (Doesn't get lost!) It is also helpful when pupils are self-isolating, parents feel that they are engaging in quality tasks/activities.”
- Slightly improves attainment“It appears to impact positively on attainment in that pupils are engaging in literacy/reading activities in school and at home. From the assessment data, teachers can see an improvement in specific skills. It also helps identify skills that pupils need to focus on so teachers can include this in planning for literacy sessions. Would need to spend time assessing the data. On the list!”
May 2021
Brilliant tool to encourage reading for pleasure, the reading comprehension tasks are linked to WG assessments, digital element engages most pupils, listened to read aloud helps EAL pupils.
J Horner found Giglets:
- Moderately improves attainment“The digital element means that pupils are more engaged. Being able to listen to the book read aloud has helped EAL pupils' language acquisition. Pupils can read books suited to their individual abilities. Bilingual books have engaged EAL learners.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“The reading test questions have helped familiarise pupils with the WG reading assessment questions.”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“Resources (conscience alley, ABC grid) are readily available to print or display in class. Giglets tasks, adapted for each book, are available immediately.”
- Moderately saves school money“We use significantly less paper for comprehension tasks than without Giglets.”
- Slightly improves parental engagement“EAL parents are able to facilitate reading from home easier.”
May 2021
Books are constantly added, questions link to the WG tests, pupil engagement Is high
Caroline Howlett found Giglets:
- Significantly improves attainment“Boys reading has become more focussed. Reading in home language .”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“Comprehension and understanding”
- Significantly reduces teacher workload“Books are related to the project title and the HOTS questions are great starters for discussion, sometimes used in circle time”
- Moderately saves school money“Less paper as the questions don’t need to be printed! Pupils are able to have a library at home”
- Significantly improves parental engagement“Visuals, music, home language, accessible,”
May 2021
A more detailed tracking and monitoring system would be excellent. Also we have found some of the books a little inappropriate.
Shona Lawson found Giglets:
- Moderately improves attainment“Motivation in reading due to age specific books with interesting subjects brightly designed. Children have enjoyed the books they have been allocated and motivation is increased.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“We have reduced numbers of children not on target”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload
- Does not save school money“We still have another core resource. This is for choice.”
- Slightly improves parental engagement
