Reading
At Hassenbrook Academy, reading is at the heart of our curriculum – we know that reading underpins the academic progress of our students. We strive to ensure that our pupils read fluently, with clear intonation and secure comprehension skills, all whilst building a love of reading for pleasure.
We believe that all of our pupils should be given the tools to master key literacy skills in order for them to explore, express and communicate their ideas and feelings with others. We help pupils secure these skills through oracy, active listening, reading and writing.
Pupils who have effective reading skills can do the following:
- employ a range of strategies in order to access texts
- vary their reading styles to suit different purposes
- read fluently, accurately and with understanding
- read independently
- be critical readers and make informed and appropriate choices.
The role of the teacher in developing reading skills
In order to support and enhance pupils’ reading skills, it is essential that teachers across the curriculum provide opportunities for learners to do the following:
- read and engage with a variety of different texts both in print and on screen
- learn how to sift and select information appropriate to the task
- follow up their interests and read texts of varying lengths
- question and challenge printed information and views
- use reading to research and investigate.
Therefore, teachers will aim to:
- Facilitate reading development through their subject
- Present reading tasks at a suitable level
- Draw pupils’ attention to structure, layout, format, print and other signposts
- Help pupils to skim, scan or read intensively according to the task
- Teach pupils to select or note only what is relevant
- Help pupils to question, challenge and recognise bias in a range of texts
- Support pupils who are at the early stages of reading
- Teach pupils to read identified subject vocabulary
By providing our pupils with opportunities to secure, develop and challenge their reading and literacy skills, we are helping them achieve their goals and succeed in their next steps of learning.
Whole school strategies
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Diagnostic testing |
All pupils in year 7 and year 8 complete reading tests in term 1. These tests are then completed again in term 3 to allow progress to be measured. |
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Library lessons |
All pupils in KS3 have timetabled Library lessons. These are opportunities to read for pleasure, discuss authors and explore a range of fiction and non-fiction texts. |
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Disciplinary literacy |
All teachers are teachers of literacy, and therefore, literacy underpins all subjects. All subjects mark for literacy and support reading skills. |
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Differentiated Pathway |
Our Differentiated Pathway provides opportunities for specifically targeted pupils to secure, and embed, essential reading skills. |
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Reading for pleasure |
We believe that all pupils have a love for reading, and we provide different opportunities for pupils to find a way to love reading. At Hassenbrook Academy, we have annual ‘Readathons’, celebrate World Book Day and have daily library clubs open to all pupils. At KS3, all pupils have a ‘class reader’ that is read as a class purely to enjoy escaping into a book. |
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Developing reading skills outside of the classroom |
In year 7, 8 and 9, pupils receive homework directly linked to etymology and morphology skills. With this homework, pupils learn a whole range of new vocabulary, as well as understanding of prefixes and suffixes to help decoding of new words. We also provide pupils with the opportunity to take part in our Summer Reading challenge. Pupils who successfully complete the reading challenge are rewarded with prizes in September. |
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Tutor time |
One tutor session every week is dedicated to POW (Punctuation of the week) and WOW (Word of the week). |
Reading interventions
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Lexonik Advance |
A targeted reading intervention used to improve automaticity, fluency and decoding skills. This reading intervention supports all subjects across the curriculum. |
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Lexonik Leap |
Designed for our most struggling readers, this intervention helps secure basic reading skills including knowledge and understanding of phonemes and graphemes which is key to developing phonological awareness. |
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PIXL Fluency |
Supported by our LiTAC Co Ordinator, and our Librarian, PIXL Fluency is an intervention that helps pupils to read fluently and comprehend the texts that they are exposed to in lessons. |
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Reciprocal reading |
This is a structured reading intervention, in small groups, which uses guided reading to build comprehension skills, inference skills and confidence with reading. |
