We are a reading school.

We are dedicated to ensuring that all students become proficient and engaged readers. Thank you for your support in encouraging your child's reading journey.

Reading is not just a skill confined to English lessons; it is fundamental to success in all aspects of life, including education, employment, and personal growth. Young people who leave school without good literacy skills can face significant challenges in their academic progress and future opportunities.

Our policy positions literacy, including reading, as central to the school's curriculum and ethos. Reading is considered the ‘master skill’ underpinning success across all subjects. Research consistently shows a strong link between reading ability and academic achievement. For example, a study highlighted a significant correlation between reading proficiency and GCSE results across all subjects, including Maths and Science, not just Arts, Humanities, and English. Furthermore, advanced readers tend to outperform their peers, showing an advantage in Maths by age 16. Reading comprehension is the strongest predictor of student performance in Science, and reading contributes significantly to teenagers' vocabulary improvement.

To support your child's reading development, we employ a comprehensive approach:

1. Disciplinary Literacy:  We recognise that reading in secondary school is both general and subject-specific. Our approach includes disciplinary literacy, focusing on the specific reading skills required within each subject area. This involves the explicit teaching of reading strategies like skimming, scanning, questioning, and summarising specific to different texts. We also emphasise subject-specific vocabulary, including Tier 3 and reinforcing Tier 2 words, using methods like defining terms and word banks.
2. Reading for Pleasure:  We aim to foster independent, critical reading by offering a diverse range of materials and encouraging reading for pleasure. We understand that engagement and personal connection with texts are key to increasing engagement, supporting comprehension, and motivating further reading. Strategies include providing access to a wide range of books in the library with support from the school librarian, dedicated reading time during form time and English lessons, and providing diverse texts in classrooms and through recommended lists.
3. Targeted Support:  Upon entry, all students are screened for reading scores, and those identified as needing extra support receive targeted intervention focusing on inference and comprehension.
4. Integration and Diversity:  Texts are integrated into the curriculum as a core component for knowledge-building across subjects. We encourage collaborative reading activities such as group discussions and peer reviews to deepen understanding. We are committed to providing a reading curriculum that reflects the diversity of our student body and the wider world, reviewing reading lists to include texts from a range of authors, cultures, and perspectives.

Our staff also play a vital role as reading influencers, sharing their own reading habits and engaging in informal conversations about books with students. We want everyone in school to be readers.

In essence, we believe that developing strong reading skills is essential for your child to access the full curriculum and achieve their full potential.  We are lucky to have a very well stocked school library and experienced librarian. It will always be our first recommendation that students visit the library when they are looking for a new book. However, here are some resources that can be used at home to support your child’s reading journey:

Book recommendation platforms:

Goodreads - Goodreads | Meet your next favorite book

Fantastic Fiction - Fantastic Fiction.

Audiobooks:

BBC Sounds - Categories - Audiobooks

7,000+ Free Audio Books & eBook Downloads - Loyal Books

Award shadowing:

Carnegie Medal & Yoto Awards

yotocarnegies.co.uk

Online books:

Free eBooks | Project Gutenberg and Welcome to Open Library | Open Library