Whole School Reading Strategy

Aim: to develop confident readers who enjoy reading a diverse range of texts and are challenged to develop their reading skills so they can fully access learning and discover a love of reading.  

 

Being able to read fluently is the gateway to fully accessing the curriculum – fluent readers can learn and gain knowledge for themselves.  

Reading fluency can be defined as when the basics are embedded and automatic.  

In two days, a fluent reader reads as much as some children do in a year (The Matthew Effect). 

As students arrive in Year 7, we must identify their precise reading needs and provide interventions urgently for students who are still not accurately decoding as they will not be able to fully access the curriculum. 

Our reading curriculum, reflecting that reading is a complex process, will ensure that all strands of reading: word recognition and language comprehension are developed through targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject, building background knowledge through a knowledge rich curriculum, deliberate exposure to high-quality texts, opportunities for structured talk and targeted high-quality literacy interventions for struggling students.  

Our vision is that all students read at or beyond their chronological reading age, achieve a Grade 4 or above for English Language at GCSE and develop a lifelong love for reading.   

Goals of the strategy  

• To provide high quality reading interventions to ensure full access to the curriculum
• To build knowledge through the curriculum to support comprehension
• To provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject
• To develop students’ ability to read complex academic texts
• To provide opportunities for structured talk
• To develop critical reading where students see themselves as literary critics
• To develop an inclusive reading curriculum where students can see themselves as well as the lives of others reflected in stories
• To develop a love of reading 

 

We use the Simple View of Reading as a framework for understanding reading development and diagnosing reading difficulties. It was introduced by Gough & Tunmer (1986) and is still central to DfE guidance and Ofsted expectations.

 

What is the Simple View of Reading?

It states that reading comprehension = word recognition × language comprehension.

- Word Recognition: The ability to decode and recognise written words accurately and fluently (often linked to phonics and sight vocabulary).

- Language Comprehension: The ability to understand spoken language, vocabulary, syntax, and meaning.

To improve decoding skills for our weakest readers, who are reading below their chronological age, we use a phonics programme, Read Write Inc Fresh Start, led by trained staff. Further to this we have a programme of Lexia to target students whose reading age is below their actual age.

To ensure pupils develop their comprehension skills (their knowledge and understanding of what texts mean) a variety of strategies are used, which include developing reciprocal reading strategies in our Book Club lessons, and reading programmes like Sparx Reader for home learning.

Teachers model fluency when they read to the class through their intonation of pitch, stress and rhythm; awareness of punctuation and pauses, pace of reading, and use of tone, to enhance meaning.

Our whole school Literary Canon, part of our tutor programme, is where tutors read a diverse range of high-quality texts that link to our school values, to their group twice a week. The tutor models fluent uninterrupted reading and students have their own copy of the text, which they track with an Oke Way reading ruler.

We have a fantastic provision in the library with a huge range of non-fiction and fiction texts, from a diverse range of authors including a range of themes. The library is very well attended by a wide range of pupils and book loans are high.

 

Reading Interventions	Whole School Reading Strategies	Developing a love of reading
Fresh Start	Literary Canon	Library lessons and events
Lexia	Book Club	Author visits
Enhanced Learning Provision in Years 7 and 8 with additional literacy lessons	Explicit vocabulary instruction including choral response	Extra-curricular clubs for reading, creative writing and learning poetry by heart
	Tracking the text with a ruler for concentration and close reading	World Book Day events
	Sparx Reader	Student librarians