Reading’ at Westleigh

At Westleigh, we recognise that a competence in reading is key to independent learning and has a direct impact on children’s progress at school and beyond. Reading builds sources of knowledge for children and it is central to our ability to understand, interpret and communicate with each other and the world around us. We strive to nurture enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers, with a love of reading and a sense of the importance of reading as a strategic tool for life-long learning and success in the world of work.

Our Commitment to Reading:

  • To develop a love of books and reading that lasts for a lifetime.
  • To create a strong, embedded reading culture through a rich language environment within classrooms and the wider school environment.
  • To teach new and advanced subject vocabulary in systematic ways so that pupils can transfer these across the curriculum.
  • To develop competent readers through shared strategies and skills: fluency, accuracy, understanding and prediction by engaging in wide range of literary genres/ types of texts.
  • To develop digital literacy skills that helps readers to navigate the information online.
  • To understand and respond to literature drawn from a range of cultures and literary heritage in English lessons.
  • To recognise the value of parents/careers as essential components in supporting and developing children’s reading skills and love of reading.
  • To monitor and assess children’s progress in reading and identify those who require extra support and intervene at an early stage.

 

We are a Reading School…

Reading is taught throughout the whole school as an integral part of the school day. Learning across the curriculum contributes to pupils’ development of language, since speaking, listening, writing and reading are, to varying degrees, integral in all lessons. During English lessons and other areas of the curriculum, children will have the opportunity to experience a wide range of quality texts (both fiction and non-fiction) and are encouraged to respond and reflect on these. Students are encouraged and rewarded through our ‘Get Caught Reading’ strategy. All staff reward pupils with stickers and a loyalty card to win free books and other prizes in the library.

At form time, children will read on Sparx reader once per week, this allows them to read suitable reading material for their reading ability. Some students during form time will complete paired reading. Y7 students are buddied with a Y10 student to read and discuss writers word choice, plot events and characterisation to develop their reading skills. Our developing readers secure their phonics skills through the use of ‘SoundsWrite’ intervention. Providing a phonics-first approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling ensures purposeful learning is taking place for our developing readers. The use of KS2/3 reading strategies with a focus on developing mastery in comprehension skills is of prime importance and a focus for staff CPD, especially with our SEND students. Other interventions that we offer for reading are:  Lexonik, used to close literacy gaps quickly, equipping students with the skills they need to succeed across every subject; guided reading, students read in small groups to develop fluency and understanding of the texts they’ve read.