Reading

"Many pupils become expert readers at this school. Pupils are provided with the opportunities that they need to satisfy their thirst for reading. Pupils get to read academic texts and journals throughout the day in their subject classes. Pupils also take opportunities to read regularly at other times, including in the school library. Pupils especially enjoy reading fiction books at these times."

Ofsted, 2022

Reading at Broughton High School

Intent

At Broughton, we love to read and we value reading.

Every subject has a reading-rich curriculum, which increases background knowledge and cultural capital. Our aim is for every pupil to increase in their confidence and fluency in reading whilst at Broughton. We foster a culture of reading around school, in every classroom, with every teacher. We want our pupils to have a curiosity for reading new fiction and to explore the world around them through both non-fiction and fiction.

At Broughton, we know our pupils well, and we know about their different reading abilities. We do not want any pupil to be left behind in their reading, so we identify gaps in reading skills quickly and intervene so that every pupil leaves school reading either at or above their chronological age. Our aim is to build an outstanding reading school.

Implementation

Every teacher is a teacher of reading.

There is a reading component in all lessons in all subjects. This greatly increases the minimum standards of reading ‘mileage’. Pupils become more fluent readers and this aids comprehension.

At Key Stage 3, as part of their English lessons, every pupil has a dedicated reading lesson, one hour per week. In this lesson, pupils read a class reader chosen by their teacher.

Click the year group to find out more about the class readers and wider reading list for Year 7, 8 and 9.

In addition, pupils visit our school library to borrow a book and engage in their own choice of private reading. The school library supports both pupils and departments by providing not only relevant resources to support the curriculum but a challenging and supportive environment to stimulate, maintain and develop a lively and enquiring mind and an enjoyment in reading.

Click here to find out more about our school library supports the whole school approach to reading.

As regards vocabulary, in years 7 and 8, pupils are taught new tier 2 vocabulary explicitly. Departments routinely include explicit teaching of Tier 2 vocabulary in their schemes of learning. Displays around school reflect the vocabulary being taught in lessons. Click here to understand the different tiers of vocabulary.

For homework, all pupils in year 7 and 8 have access to 'Bedrock Learning', a personalised online vocabulary and grammar programme. They complete 2 lessons per week.

All teachers have received CPD on how to incorporate reading into their lessons. This includes our universal approach to reading whereby student activate prior knowledge, read fluency and then comprehend (ARC)a text. Furthermore, we also recognise the importance of disciplinary reading and students are taught how to read in an appropriate way according to that subject area.

All pupils in year 7 are assessed using the Bedrock Reading Test. The data provided ensures all teachers are aware of the reading ability of their pupils and support them accordingly. Students are then re-tested mid-way through the year and subsequent years to monitor progress.

The data is carefully analysed and pupils with a reading age more than 2 years behind their chronological age are further assessed by the Learning Support Department to gain an insight into the nature of their reading difficulties. If a pupil has decoding difficulties preventing them from accessing texts, they are selected for the 'Thinking Reading' programme.

Thinking Reading is an intensive, personalised intervention delivered three times per week by trained practitioners. Pupils make quick progress and graduate from the programme once they are reading at their chronological age.

Pupils requiring support are selected for 'Paired Reading' and 'Reading Enrichment' classes. Reading skills are taught explicitly and more practice is given for extracting the meaning from texts. Currently, reading enrichment lessons are timetabled in years 7, 8 and 9.

Click here to find out more about our reading enrichment programme, collaboratively led by our lead practitioner in English. We aim to develop whole school reading, in three areas: supporting and developing reading skills, encouraging reading for pleasure, and building disciplinary reading skills.

Every Friday, the whole school reads from 8:45am – 9am during Register and Read. This is a time when teachers and pupils can read their own choice of book silently, or form tutors may read aloud from a set extract or news feature. These shared readings promote discussion and highlight reading strategies in action. On the first Friday of every month, we celebrate First Look Friday, where form groups explore the front cover and blurb of a book selected from that year’s Best of Broughton reading list—sparking curiosity and encouraging wider reading choices. Teachers modelling good practice by reading themselves fosters a culture of reading across the school and reinforces that every teacher is a teacher of reading, regardless of subject discipline. Click here to see an example of our First Look Friday form sessions.

Reading Lists

To further support the reading choices of our pupils, each year group has a bespoke reading list. This has been specially curated by our Reading Ambassadors, teacher recommendations across the school and our librarian's extensive knowledge. As part of the Best of Broughton award criteria, pupils are required to read a minimum of 3 books from their year group list.

Click here to see the reading lists for Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and KS4.

Impact

The impact of the varied reading strategies is judged against a range of measures.

'Thinking Reading' progress is measured using a thinking reading probe (assessment showing reading age) and Bedrock Reading Test. In addition, qualitative feedback is taken in the form of a pupil questionnaire at the end of the programme. Engagement/improved attitude to learning is reflected in reviews.

The 'Bedrock learning programme generates a number of reports throughout the year to give a detailed breakdown of a cohort's progress. Information such as the amount of time spent, the number of new words learned, a percentage improvement score and the words that are still proving difficult to learn, can be easily ascertained. This level of detail can be established about an individual pupil’s progress by drilling down into their individual progress report. The impact within a unit can be measured using pre-test and post-test scores.

The Bedrock Reading Test is taken initially at the beginning of Year 7, then repeated before Easter. Pupils are tested again in the September of Year 8 and again before Easter of that academic year. In Year 9, selected pupils are re-tested. This gives an insight into the progress of each pupil regarding reading and spelling ages. It also allows us to identify any struggling pupils who can be supported via Thinking Reading, Paired Reading or our Reading Enrichment programme.

As mentioned, our school library plays an integral part in our drive to improve reading across the school. The number of ‘loans’ from the library gives a guide as to the success of promoting reading for pleasure. Our librarian provides Half Termly reports regarding borrowing from the library. This proves the extent of wider reading within school. Loans can also be broken down by class or year group. Reports show yearly loans in comparison to other years, number of pupils who have never borrowed a book, percentage of fiction to non-fiction borrowed. As a consequence, this information allows us to target individuals during library lessons who perhaps haven't borrowed for some time.

At Broughton, we do not want any pupil to be left behind in their reading; the aim of our varied strategies is to have a significant impact on improving reading for both pleasure and empowerment, so that we can 'achieve together' and pupils do their 'best at Broughton'.

Our different levels of reading support

To view the document please click here

Our reading strategy