Reading at Dene Academy

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 communications 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 Dene Academy, we have invested time into researching and investigating the importance of reading and the impact of this on students both in and out of school. Our reading and literacy policies have been most heavily influenced by the following bodies of research:

• 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.

The Research Findings

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.
• Children who enjoy reading and writing are happier in their lives.
• 1 in 6 adults in England have very poor literacy skills.

Our Commitment

Consequently, as an Academy, we are committed to improving the communication and reading skills of all students. Communications and reading permeates the curriculum at Dene Academy, not only within English, 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 Dene Academy, we work hard to instil a love of reading in our students through a range of strategies. We encourage them to read challenging and ambitious texts to develop their skills – and 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. We believe that the teaching of reading should permeate the curriculum. As a result, all subjects have integrated reading into their curriculum and staff are well equipped to support students with reading and decoding.

Three Tiered Approach

As an Academy, we have adopted a three tiered approach to reading as recommended by the EEF:

Tier 1: Teaching Strategies – personalised to departments – ensuring that students have every opportunity to access the curriculum.

Tier 2: Interventions – personalised support used to narrow gaps, to ensure students can access the whole curriculum.

Tier 3: Engendering a love of reading.

Early Identification

It is important to swiftly identify those in need of extra support. To facilitate this, students complete a GL Reading and Spelling Assessment twice a year to ascertain their reading ability and determine a reading age. Those in need of extra support will then be further screened to determine whether they need phonics support, with trained members of our phonics team, or other interventions. 

Reading interventions may include, but are not limited to:

• ‘Fresh Start Phonics’ 5x per week – small group or 1:1.
• ‘Fix it Reading’ Programme intervention sessions.
• In class support.
• Small group or Individual Communication intervention lessons.
• 1:1 or small group reading.
• ‘Reading Buddies’ initiative. 
• E-Library access.
• ‘Communication’ tutor group. 

Regular assessment of Reading Age allows for the interventions in place to be as short-lived as required. 

Expectations and Systems

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 GL Reading and Spelling testing programmes, to evaluate reading abilities.
• 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.

At Key Stage 4 we aim to further develop students into confident, independent readers. Our strategies include:

• Developing reading fluency through the use of reciprocal reading in all lessons.
• Encouraging students to read challenging and ambitious texts.
• Providing KS4 students with reading lists linked to each curriculum area, supporting enrichment outside of the classroom and insight into the wider world.