Our R.E.A.D Curriculum
R.E.A.D – Reading Enhancement and Development
In order for our students to access a rigorous curriculum, it is essential that we continue to improve their reading levels. To provide this successfully for all of our students, we are pleased to offer a ‘R.E.A.D’ lesson every week for Years 7, 8 and 9.
In R.E.A.D lessons, students are introduced to a wide variety text types and reading materials. From the classroom, they enter worlds of magical and mysterious fiction, debate the social issues fought by well-known and lesser-known global activists, and explore the complexities of real life situations and relationships. In each lesson they are taught how to decode language, build up their vocabulary, and how to connect meanings to everything they read. Teachers model this active way of reading, as well assisting students with how to read sentences fluently, with meaning and purpose.
Why do we focus on reading?
One of the biggest barriers our students face to their learning is a low reading ability. National statistics, such as those from GL Assessments in February 2020, indicate that 20% of all 15-year-olds have a reading age of 11 and below, and 10% a reading age of 9 and below. In addition to this, educational researchers, such as Alex Quigley, have also revealed that only 73% of pupils leaving primary school reached the expected level for reading in 2019.
We have implemented the most recent educational research for teaching reading, in addition to working alongside our trust’s primary educators, to create a scheme of learning which actively models how to read in a way which will improve our students’ reading ability.
R.E.A.D Lessons
Every subject across the curriculum delivers a ‘R.E.A.D’ lesson once every half-term. This helps students to know how to read texts across all subjects and themes. Please see some examples of this below.