Reading
"I didn’t want to read but the school has made me want to."
Year 6 pupil
Our whole school reading approach is to encourage a love of reading for pleasure and to increase fluency and confidence. We have a number of approaches in place for this year.
Some of our strategies are included below:
Whole School Reading Approaches 2024/2025
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Encourage a love of reading, fluency and confidence
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Form tutors reading aloud twice a week in afternoon registration to their form from a text voted for by the pupils Positive role models
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Switched to whole texts (Research 12 weeks reading 8 months progress but 16 months for weakest readers)
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Encourage all staff to read any texts aloud in lessons (cold read) |
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Silent Reading in pm reg.
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1:1 reading with Weakest 20% twice a week in afternoon registration with an adult or a Y8 peer reader. |
New book cases for classrooms that need one/ensuring each classroom has a nice ‘book display’ area to make reading inviting.
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Higher quality reading material in KS3 classrooms purchased.
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Reading Challenges Different reading challenges set in KS2 and KS3 to encourage reading over the school holidays.
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Book vending machine Visual/inspiring, rewards for reading and promotes the love of reading.
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Share information on website about the books we are reading in PM registration: parents may wish to purchase. |
New TV screens at key points around the school to promote reading e.g. famous quotes/book suggestions. |
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Head teacher/SLT/guests live stream reading in form time.
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Reading Assembly – promotion and explanation of extended reg.
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Magpie Books in English. Children collect interesting vocabulary as they hear anyone read to them or from texts they read themselves.
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Year 8 peer readers to support KS2/3 reading and receive some training to support. |
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Book Exchange |
Have copies in the library of the ‘reading aloud’ book for those who wish to read it.
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Accelerated Reader for all
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LSAs to receive phonics training to support weakest readers. Increase knowledge of phonics skills test at KS1.
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Echo Reading Year 5 and 6
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Echo Read sharing of strategies for staff
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Monday briefings – raising profile of most vulnerable pupils. Sharing strategies that work. |
Year 5 literacy group phonics focus.
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Accelerated Literacy Groups
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Extended pm registration for reading. Discussion with School Council and Staff.
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Parental Workshop. Reading support strategies for selected parents.
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World Book Day bespoke activities and promotion
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Teacher Phonics Training. Whole session plus drip feed briefings.
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Weakest 20% nationally identified for all staff.
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Strategies to support Weakest 20% Personalised reading strategies given to all staff to use in all lessons to support weakest 20% of readers. |
Reading Records re-introduced and used alongside 1:1 reading.
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IDL for Weakest 30% in KS3 Personalised programme to aid word recognition and word reading for Weakest 30% in KS3 during morning registrations. |
Tier 2 Vocabulary training and further reminders for staff.
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Presentation to Governors Accelerated Reader presentation to Governors to disseminate training and raise profile with Governors. |
Training material for Accelerated Reader for Governors Guide to what Accelerated Reader is produced and shared with Governors. |
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Recommended reading lists revamped to include more non-fiction. Shared with parents and available on our school website. |
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Accelerated Reader and MyOn
All pupils at Leighton Middle have access to Accelerated Reader and MyOn to support their reading. Accelerated Reader is a reading system that enables us to closely monitor their reading age and ability. This is used alongside MyOn, which is an online library of books that can recommend books to pupils based on their reading ability. Years 5, 6 and 7 have a weekly Accelerated Reader lesson in the library as part of their English lessons and Year 8 have theirs fortnightly. During this lesson, they can read online using MyOn; read a physical copy of a book or they may be heard reading aloud by an adult.
All children are assigned a ‘ZPD’ by Accelerated Reader which then allows them to choose books that aren’t too easy, but do offer some level of challenge to help improve their reading. The vast majority of the books in our school library are labelled with Accelerated Reader codes to help them when choosing a book to read. Once a pupil has read a book, they can complete a quiz on the book they have read which will focus on assessing both their word reading and comprehension of the book. Once the quiz is completed, pupils are then free to read another book within their ZPD. Children can read books on electronic devices if they prefer as they can still quiz provided the book is on Accelerated Reader.
Since launching Accelerated Reader in September 2022, our pupils have spent over 800 hours reading on MyOn and have read a combined total of over 28 million words!
To find out more information about how Accelerated Reader and MyOn work and how to support your child, please see the LMS Guide to Accelerated Reader here.
In afternoon registrations, on a Monday and Tuesday, all pupils are read aloud to by their form tutors. All tutor groups are reading whole books which have been voted for through pupil voice and give pupils to listen to a whole text, immerse themselves in text and foster a love of reading.
Reading for pleasure - afternoon reading by the Form Tutor
RATIONALE
Reading for pleasure comes with HUGE benefits for pupils!
- Reading enjoyment has been reported as more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status
- There is a positive link between positive attitudes towards reading and scoring well on reading assessments
- Evidence suggests that reading for pleasure is an activity that has emotional and social benefits
- Other benefits of reading for pleasure include positive reading attitudes, pleasure in reading in later life, and increased general knowledge
Year 8 Voted afternoon reading book
Maze Runner - James Dashner
British Value links:
Tolerance: Confidence in portraying identity.
Year 7 Voted afternoon reading book
Wonder by R J Palacio
'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.'
Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
A funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut - and a true global phenomenon - to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.
British Value links:
Tolerance: acceptance of others that are different from us.
Respect: understanding how our actions towards others can make them feel.
Year 6 Voted afternoon reading book
Hacker - Malorie Blackman
Please identify yourself . . . When Vicky's father is arrested, accused of stealing over a million pounds from the bank where he works, she is determined to prove his innocence. There's only one way - to attempt to break into the bank's computer files. An amazing Hacker she might be, but she's going to have to find the cyber-thief and stop them before they find her.
British Value links:
Rule of Law -building a happy and safe environment to live in. How the law protects us/consequences of breaking the law.
Year 5 Voted afternoon reading book
Escape the Rooms - Stephen Mangan
The last thing Jack expected when he bungee jumped at the fairground was to plummet into a maze of underground rooms, full of traps, puzzles and some weird and wonderful people.
Alongside a mysterious girl called Cally, he must find the keys to unlock each room and find his way home facing hundreds of tiny yet ferocious lions, a revolting game of Would You Rather and some mind-blowing riddles on the way.
British Value links:
Individual Liberty
Jack is faced with decision making and mystery throughout the book, shaping him as an individual. The story is humorous and whimsical but also explores the notion of dealing with loss and grief closely linked with SMSC and through Jack’s emotional roller coaster he is able to develop a strong sense of self and understand the world around him.
