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Literacy

We are committed to instilling a passion for literature and a love of reading amongst all of our students, as part of a commitment to ensuring excellent literacy development for all of our students. Literacy skills will  be tracked and monitored across all programme and initiatives, with intervention available where students require support.  Our focus for this academic year is on developing a reading curriculum at Whitstone School. 

‘We Are Readers’ focuses on three dimensions. 

We are Readers

Reading Independently and for pleasure

• Accelerated Reader programme.

• Aspire Reading Programme. Class readers. and silent reading.  Support pack for Aspire leads created.

• Book in a Bag as part of our Aspire equipment check.

• Library lessons once a fortnight at KS3.

• Reading Record at KS3 to track progress.

• Recommended Reads lists for all year groups.

• Reading display board in every classroom. 

• Celebrate Success- 5 books, 10 books, 25 books, 50 books. Word Millionaires.

• Aspire Competition. Each Aspire group monitors and records words read in total as a group. 

• Book Buzz with year 7. 

• Celebrate national events such as World Book Day and World Poetry Day. 

• A range of extra curricular activities including the Shadowing Carnegie Book Club and Book Chat.

• Reading Challenge launched for all year 7.

• Reading transition project for our year 6-7 2023 cohort.

• Parent engagement developed through the use of Information Evenings. Parent Support booklet created.

Supporting Readers

• See flowchart below which details how students are identified and the different interventions in place. 

• All students with a reading age below chronological age receive some form of support. 

• Regular analysis of the data to identify students who require intervention. 

• All students in the lowest 20% have a 1-1 meeting to find out their barriers to reading and their motivation for success. 

• Aspire Reading Programme in small groups. 

• Peer Reading Programme for our year 7 and 8 students with year 11 students.

• Reading Partners. Trained community volunteers offering 1-1 tailored intervention. Students are pulled from any lesson except Maths, English, Science and PE. 

• 1-1 work with Mr Sam Cox. 

• Find the right books and ensure they are in the right places. Ensure there is an excellent collection of short reads for quick wins (Barrington Stoke, Shades, Badger, Laburnum). 

• Phonics training for all English teachers and LSAs. 

Reading in Subjects

“Text as the beating heart of the lesson” Mary Myatt

• Academic Reading is a part of all subjects. All subjects using the High Five Academic Reading approach. 

• Reading across the curriculum. Each subject considers the experiences of a KS3/KS4 student in terms of reading (What? How? When? Challenge?).

• Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary explicitly taught in all subjects. 

• Recommended Reading lists tailored to individual subjects. 

• Literacy displays in every classroom.  

Supporting Readers

Staff CPD

Inset Day; 01st September. This session will introduce the basics of how we learn to read (the reading rope) and will focus on how to make the Aspire reading sessions more effective. 

Inset Day: January. David Didau. This will focus on how we can ensure we have a reading curriculum in all subjects.   

Teaching and Learning focus for term 3: Literacy. 

Phonics training for all English staff and LSAs.  LH to meet with all Subject Leads to develop their reading curriculum. 

Aspire Books – Key Stage 3

Year 7

The texts chosen for the Year 7 Aspire books are very firmly about the life lessons that we learn when starting at secondary school. They teach about empathy, acceptance of others that maybe perceived as different but also about the importance of never giving up if you want to achieve your goal. 

Year 8

The selection of books for the Year 8 Aspire time are a step darker than the ones offered at Year 7 which hope to answer some of the deeper questions that students at this age maybe thinking about but don’t know how to start that conversation. Themes include war, relationships, making the right decisions and trying to find your place in the world. 

Year 9

Students in Year 9 are ready to move onto books with a more mature content (as this selection reflects) These all tackle themes such as self-sacrifice, courage in the face of adversity, race and fighting for the right decisions even when society makes it difficult. 

For the selection of Aspire books click here.

Why is Aspire Time reading important?

It is proved through many academic studies that reading at least once a day can raise attainment, relieve some mental health issues as well as showing that children can gain an insight to different cultures and ideas through reading books.

It is well known that Reading for Pleasure has declined in the last decade with the rise of the use of screens and time playing video games. However, it has also been show through numerous academic studies, that being read to or reading for 20 minutes a day boosts your cognitive ability as well as having a positive impact on all areas of school work with an upward trend in attainment in school work. 

Therefore, Aspire time in school is important as it teaches students a whole host of skills:

• That reading for pleasure is something worth investing time in 

• It benefits your mental health 

• It helps you empathise with people and cultures that you wouldn’t necessarily know about outside your own ‘bubble’

• You learn about books that you wouldn’t necessarily pick up yourself or study in an English lesson

• A chance to discuss issues that could be deemed uncomfortable, awkward ir difficult within a space reading space.

Aspire Time Staff Expectations

The purpose of Aspire time is to read aloud to your group so that they become curious about the plot of the story as well as planting the seeds that books are something to be embraced rather than feared.  

 The books on offer have much diversity and should spark conversation and questions from your group. 

Being read aloud to focuses the mind as well as giving a moment of calm to what can be a busy school day. According to research done by Farshore in 2020 parents tend not to read to their children from the age of 8 onwards meaning that they lose the ability to sit, be still and listen if it is not carried on within a classroom setting.  

A few tips to help Aspire reading time…

• Try and read the book before your Aspire group. In 20 minutes you can read around 15 pages. This should make you aware of any hard to pronounce words or any language that may spark questions.

• Don’t be afraid of the text. If you are uncomfortable with it then your Aspire group will also feel uncomfortable with it.

• Vary your tone. Make the text exciting and interesting as this will also be conveyed to your Aspire group.

• Take it slowly. We know, as teachers, that we need time to decipher what is being said to us. For students that are not read aloud to regularly then they might find this difficult. 

• Ask students to follow along with the text with a bookmark or overlay. This helps students process the words. 

• If they need a bit of variety the librarian will help source an audio book or see if you can swap with another aspire lead just for one session. 

If a group finishes a book early ask for the accompanying resources for each of the texts so that you can continue the conversations about the text. It was found in recent research that for students to actually be able to talk about the book they are reading enhances their curiosity as well as encouraging them to read more for pleasure in their free time.