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Literacy and reading
The importance of reading and our approach
The ability to read is a fundamental life skill. It is essential to us all if we are to participate fully in society and the workplace. Students with poor reading struggle to read independently, and so read less. As a result, they do not accumulate the background knowledge and vocabulary they need to improve their comprehension. It is therefore harder for them to access the curriculum in secondary school because the required levels of literacy rise rapidly beyond primary school.
At Bishop Ramsey we use a common approach to reading, both during Form time and within lessons. Our aim is to encourage students to become fluent readers and engage more with the material that they are presented with to support their comprehension and enable progress through the curriculum.
The model that we are using at Bishop Ramsey is known as ‘PQRST’. This approach, as outlined below, encourages students to think about what they are about to read as well as summarise what they have read to ensure comprehension. It is followed by a short test to establish that the key learning points are retained, enabling them to move onto the next stage of their learning. Staff will model reading, including the breaking down of key vocabulary and asking questions as they read, followed by whole class reading out loud, paired reading and eventually individual reading. Our aim is to create independent and confident readers.
Reading Intervention at Bishop Ramsey
“Without identification of their reading needs and targeted additional teaching, pupils who arrive in secondary school as poor readers are likely to continue to struggle. As the secondary curriculum places increasing demands on reading comprehension, older pupils who struggle with reading comprehension do not catch up. Each year, only 10% of disadvantaged children who leave primary school with their reading below the expected standard get passes in English and mathematics at GCSE.”
‘Now the whole school is reading: Supporting struggling readers in secondary school.' OFSTED Oct 2022
Identifying students’ needs
We take a data driven approach to reading at Bishop Ramsey. This starts with reading tests in Year 7, to identify students whose reading is significantly below their expected level, affecting their ability to keep up with curriculum demands. Students can then be supported in improving their reading skill and confidence, so they can be successful learners.
At Bishop Ramsey, we use the Access Reading Test (ART) which produces a reading age and standardised score. The standardised score is used to determine the level of intervention students need and is shared with teaching staff more generally, to indicate students’ reading level on entry to the school, grouping them as broadly ‘above’, ‘at’ or ‘below’ their expected reading level.
Helping students to improve their reading
All students are supported in improving their reading and developing their skills to access the secondary curriculum, through vocabulary teaching and the teaching of reading strategies, such as the use of PQRST (preview, question, read, summarise, test). The school also encourages students to continue to read independently for pleasure, through the celebration of World Book Day, our LitFest, during which authors deliver talks and workshops and the use of weekly Form time to read.
Targeted interventions
Tier 1 (English Faculty)
For students who are just below their expected reading age, who are in need of intervention for comprehension or who lack confidence in reading independently, the English Faculty run:
-a weekly 1:1 6th Form Reading Buddy programme
-a volunteer programme where members of the community listen to students read
Tier 2 (English Faculty)
Students are allocated to a small group intervention where they would benefit from developing their fluency through more targeted instruction by a specialist English teacher. Groups run for 8 weeks and students are retested, at which point they may be moved to the Reading Buddy programme.
Tier 3 (Access and Inclusion Faculty)
For students who are significantly below their expected reading age and as a result, will struggle to access the secondary curriculum, intervention is provided by our Access and Inclusion Faculty.
Students receive weekly 1:1 reading intervention, with a trained Teaching Assistant or HLTA, overseen by our dyslexia specialist. They use a structured intervention to support and improve comprehension.
Tier 4 (Specialist)
The students with significant reading difficulties, or difficulties relating to dyslexia, are given specialist support 1:1 or in a small group, by our dyslexia specialist. At KS3, this is focussed first on reading, including fluency, then as they progress, they move on to other literacy skills.
Bedrock Learning
Students in Year 9 use an online vocabulary programme called Bedrock Learning to help them become word-aware and as a tool to improve their vocabulary to help address the word gap. The programme allows students to access both non-fiction and fiction texts to improve their reading skills and learn new vocabulary that will enhance the way they read, speak and write across all of their subjects.
As students progress through the Bedrock curriculum, they will study hundreds of new words.
Recommended Reading
Our Recommended reading lists for each Key Stage can be viewed or downloded as a PDF below.
Key Stage 3 Reading List
Key Stage 4 Reading List
Key Stage 5 Reading List
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Reluctant Readers
There are a number of ways to support children who are reluctant or struggle to read at home.
1. Encourage them to use their PQRST reading method which is used in school when doing any reading.
2. Encourage self-monitoring when reading too:
- Does what I have read made sense?
- Do I need to re-read this or talk it through with someone?
- Can I link what I have read to some earlier parts?
3. Key word lists/glossaries are also great, so focus on common words or words they often get wrong. You can have this up in places they will see (the fridge, the back of the bathroom door, if you have a board up in the kitchen etc).
4. Barrington Stokes Publishers have great "high interest, low readability" books.
Your child may not have dyslexia, but these are also great for “reluctant readers”
Dyslexic and Reluctant Readers - Barrington Stoke
5. Encourage mind mapping when your child is researching or making notes.
6. Have subtitles on as you watch TV. Also, if they watch videos on YouTube, you can put the captions on.
7.Read with your child or read to them. If they are reluctant to read, then audiobooks help. Try to link these to subjects or genres they like, or engage with. They can also use the “immersive reader” function on the Bishop Ramsey digital reading E-Platform, which reads the text aloud whilst tracking the words.
8. Ask them questions about things you read together. Often something like an article from the "Metro" newspaper is good for this; you can pick articles they are interested in. They also have access to an online student newspaper called The Day, via the BR Student Portal, on which the reading level can be adjusted.
9. Encourage them, when reading a Word document or PowerPoint, to use the "immersive reader" function, which reads the text aloud, whilst tracking the words.
10. Model positive attitudes to reading with your child – discuss your favourite author or book with your child, or the films that have been made based on books.
Recommended Useful Reading Websites
Free Online Read Books – eBooks, online reads, recommendations, Awards
Goodreads is an excellent essential website for all readers. It allows you to read online, to track books you have read, want to read and add custom shelves to sort books. You can connect with other readers in groups and follow authors for updates and exclusive information. Why not give the Goodreads Reading Challenge a go, an annual self-challenge to set a goal of how many books you want to read that year.
Strengths: Community, reading data tool, book list articles, user-generated reviews, reading challenge.
LoveReading
LoveReading exists because reading matters and books change lives. Support local schools through the LoveReading bookshop. Includes reviews, debuts, different genres and the LoveReading Litfest
Google books searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned and converted to text .
Search the world’s most comprehensive index of full-text books. Many are free
Includes best sellers, new releases.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks and home of the first e-book.
Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with a focus on older works for which copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers have digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy.
There are no fees. Search for your favourite authors, genre, title. Includes bookshelves of similar books and recently added books.
Amazon Book Review
https://www.amazon.com/amazonbookreview
The Amazon Book Review is a flagship for good book content, with recommendations from notable readers being a unique feature. The site includes author interviews with writers like George R Martin, Holly Black and Charlie Jane Anders recently stopping by for a chat, often on the podcast. Amazon’s Best Books of the Month list is one to check regularly for new books; they often surprise with little-known reads. Highly rated is ‘new book discovery’ meaning a place where you can learn about new books to read.
Strengths: Author interviews, previews of new releases, lists of recent award winners, podcast, new book discovery.
BookBub
The drawback of Book Bub is that you have to set up an account . However it is free and you can download onto your eReader. It shows comprehensive book lists, new books and has book recommendations from authors like Stephen King and Nora Roberts
Strengths: Book list articles, book recommendations, eBook deals, new book discovery.
Literary Hub
A daily literary website with reviews, interviews, recommendations, lists, journal articles. Good reading when you do not want to read a book. Articles on authors, books and everything literary.
One of the sites associated with Literary Hub, Book Marks is the place to go if you want to find book reviews of the latest big books. Book Marks' speciality is aggregating adult literary fiction and non-fiction reviews and then assigning them a score card so you can see how many reviewers gave the book a Rave, Positive, Mixed or Pan. The site regularly interviews book critics to ask them more about their bookish lives. The site also reprints classic book reviews.
Strengths: Book reviews, coverage of new books, literary criticism, book news, essays.
Literature Map
A fun site where you can type in an author’s name and then view similar authors that other readers are enjoying. The site generates a map that displays author names in relative states of closeness. The closer the authors, the more likely other readers enjoyed both.
EPIC READS
Epic Reads is one of the largest young adult fiction communities online. Along with their endless energy and passion for YA, one reason for their popularity is their interactive quizzes, lengthy lists, and colourful book charts that point readers towards their next favourite read.