Our Rationale for Reading

Reading is central not only to our young people’s education, but to their ability to communicate: it is the key which unlocks our understanding of others and the world. The ability to read fluently and with understanding, underpins success for every student at every level. If a student struggles to read, they struggle in all subjects: if a student has competent skills of written and spoken expression, and the ability to read, understand and interpret texts, they will have the ability to understand and respond to subject content across the curriculum.

It is our duty and moral obligation to ensure that every student can read fluently and is equipped with high standards of written and spoken communication in order to be successful both in and out of the classroom. We want our young people to be confident communicators with high levels of self-esteem; in an increasingly challenging world, effective communication skills are essential to lead a fulfilling and successful life.

Reading Policy in Action

Teachers are expert readers:

We develop students’ reading and comprehension skills by modelling the fluent reading of texts.

Teachers model different reading strategies:

Strategies such as activating students’ prior knowledge, modelling, encouraging students to predict and question texts and guided or scaffolded reading are used to help students understand and interpret texts in every subject.
We encourage students to skim, scan, reread, check, question, summarise, identify patterns and read related texts to develop their resilience when reading independently.

Teachers explicitly teach vocabulary in every subject:

We teach tier 3 vocabulary across the curriculum.
We use strategies such as exploring morphology and etymology to embed the knowledge and use of vocabulary across the curriculum.

Teachers use rich texts across the curriculum:

We are developing our use of rich texts across the curriculum to increase opportunities for our students to have rich reading experiences.

Reading Intervention and Extra Support

Students reading is tested using the NGRT platform. Where needed, students with lower reading age scores will have targeted intervention.

Students who have difficulties with phonics, engage in the Read, Write, Inc. programme with a specialist tutor to support their phonic development, build their confidence and fluency.
Small group reading sessions are designed to improve reading fluency, build vocabulary, boost confidence and build self-esteem.
Students are tested throughout the intervention process to ensure that intervention is matched to their needs and to monitor their progress.

Reading for Pleasure

We are deeply committed to promoting a love of reading across our whole school community. We discuss the many benefits of reading for pleasure: from developing our verbal abilities and vocabulary, to broadening our imagination and our understanding of the world, as well as the benefits to our mental health and wellbeing. Our aim is to help our young people to be effective readers by rooting the curriculum in appropriate fiction and non-fiction texts and by igniting a genuine passion and enthusiasm for reading.

Tutor-led reading for pleasure takes place in tutor groups twice a week. Teachers model effective reading aloud and use strategies to engage their tutees in thinking about the texts during these sessions. Students use reading rulers to track the text. World Book Day is celebrated each year, with a range of activities and competitions across all year groups.

Many of our students read for pleasure and participate in the range of activities available to them. Our focus on promoting a love of reading includes:

A well-resourced library with reading recommendations displayed.
A dedicated school Librarian who supports our school drive on reading intervention and building a culture of reading for pleasure and meaning.
National Poetry Day events and competitions.
World Book Day events.
Poetry by Heart events.
NTBC facilitate online sessions which include discussion groups and presentations from authors and publishers.
Tutor time reading programme.