The ability to read is a fundamental life skill and essential for full participation in society and the world of work. As an Academy we recognise the significant impact that secure literacy and reading skills have on the progress and outcomes of students. Reading is arguably the most crucial literacy skill, for cross-curricular success in secondary school.

At Thornhill Community Academy, we have invested time into researching and investigating the importance of reading and the impact of this on students both in school, but also in their wider lives outside of school. Our reading and literacy policy have been most heavily influenced by the following bodies of research:

• Geoff Barton, Don’t Call It Literacy
• Education Endowment Foundation, Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools Guidance Report, 2019.
• National Literacy Trust
• Ofsted Report, ‘Now the whole school is reading’: supporting struggling readers in secondary school Published 31 October 2022

Recent research by the National Literacy Trust, has revealed the following:

• 1 in 8 disadvantaged children in the UK say that they don’t have a book of their own.
• The longer children maintain an enjoyment of reading, the greater the benefits are in the classroom.
• Children born into communities with the most serious literacy challenges have some of the lowest life expectancies in England.
• Only half of children in the UK enjoy writing.
• Children who enjoy reading and writing are happier in their lives.
• 1 in 6 adults in the England (16.4%/7.1 million people) have very poor literacy skills.

Consequently, as an Academy we are committed to improving the literacy and reading skills of all students. Literacy and reading permeates the curriculum at Thornhill Community Academy, not only within the English curriculum, but across all subject areas. We strive to ensure that all students have and or develop, the skills required to be able to read fluently, speak confidently and write articulately. At Thornhill Community Academy, we work hard to instil a love of reading in our students through a range of strategies. We encourage our students to read challenging and ambitious texts to develop their skills to achieve highly.  Staff promote a love of reading and this is improving the rhetoric around reading amongst our students. Our expectations around engagement with reading and literacy are clearly communicated with students, which supports our positive culture around reading.

As an Academy, we have six key principles which underpin our approach to reading. These are:

1. Strategies to encourage students’ enjoyment of reading are high profile
2. All students, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, know how to access challenging texts which they can read for pleasure 
3. CPD packages include opportunities for teachers to develop their understanding of teaching reading, particularly for weaker pupils 
4. The teaching of reading permeates the curriculum - All subjects have integrated reading into their curriculum and staff are well equipped to support students with reading and decoding.
5. Mechanisms to identify and then support weaker readers take place on entry and throughout students' time in school
6. Reading catch-up plans are implemented which address the core areas of need. These should focus on phonics for early-stage readers.

We aim to support the bespoke needs of our students and have the following strategies in place to help students develop confidence and fluency in reading in both Key Stage 3 and 4: 

• Phonics to support students in the early phases of reading. 
• Bespoke literacy interventions and catch-up programmes for students who need to develop their comprehension.
• Reciprocal Reading, which is a structured approach to teaching strategies (questioning, clarifying, summarising and predicting) that is accessed by all students through our form time curriculum and as an intervention during lesson time.  

Key Stage 3 – Supporting students and helping them to develop a love of reading. 

In Key Stage 3, we aim to identify students’ reading ability and develop a love of reading. Our strategies include: 

• Testing students on entry through the NGRT testing programme to evaluate reading abilities. Regular testing throughout KS3 ensures accurate monitoring of students’ reading ability.  
• Introducing students to the school Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and teaching them how to select appropriate books. 
• Regular LRC visits for students in Y7-9, to support a habit of borrowing books.
• Providing all students with a dictionary upon entry to Y7. This forms an essential piece of their equipment.
• Placing a strong focus on reading aloud (by both teachers and students) in all curriculum areas.
• Developing a curriculum which supports the development of academic reading and writing within the classroom, as well as the development of oracy.
• The Reading Friends programme, which gives students in KS3 the opportunity to be partnered with a student in KS4 for a weekly opportunity to read.
• Reciprocal Reading, which takes place in a structured weekly form time session and as an intervention during subject lessons.
• Additional literacy intervention is used to close the gaps for students who require further support. 
• Literacy intervention form groups with a reading specific focus.
• Bespoke phonics intervention following the Little Wandle Code KS3 pilot scheme.

Key Stage 4 – Developing students into confident and independent readers. 

In Key Stage 4, we aim to support students in reading confidently. 

• NGRT tests are used in KS4 to ensure accurate monitoring of students’ reading ability. 
• Reciprocal Reading, which takes place in a structured weekly form time session.
• Encouraging students to read challenging and ambitious texts. 
• Promoting wider reading through subject-selected texts. 
• Promoting love of reading through a Young Adult section in the LRC which is available for KS4 only. 
• Providing opportunities for students to take on the role of Student Librarian.
• Providing Year 10s with opportunities to volunteer as a Reading Friend, where they will receive training on how to support younger readers. 

It is important to swiftly identify those in need of extra support. To facilitate this, all students in Years 7-10 are assessed annually using the New Group Reading Test (NGRT). Students in Year 7 are further screened for gaps in their phonics knowledge using the Little Wandle Code KS3 Pilot screener. Reading interventions are tailored to meet the needs of students and are outlined in the below links.