At Philip Morant School & College, we recognise reading, and the ability to read fluently, as the one skill of paramount importance for students to access and understand the entire curriculum. Reading fluency is defined as ‘the ability to read accurately, at an appropriate speed and with the right expression’ which is necessary for students to fully comprehend any material they are reading.
To support students’ development of reading fluency, wherever appropriate, teachers use questioning to activate students’ prior knowledge by making connections to build schema, pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary while using an agreed approach to etymological exploration using Lexonik Vocabulary, and encourage students to make informed predictions. Teachers also model reading, promote academic oracy, and provide opportunities for re-reading before students are asked to create written responses.
All students are enrolled on our ‘Sparx Reader Programme’ to provide them with opportunities to read meaningfully and independently outside of the curriculum. Students in Key Stage 3, and identified students in Key Stage 4, have their reading ages tested regularly using the ‘Accelerated Reader Programme’. This data is triangulated with assessment performance and historic data to ensure students are making, at least, expected progress.
All students in Year 7 are tested using the New Group Reading Test (NGRT).
Students who sit below national expectations, either in their reading age or in their assessment performance across the curriculum, are provided with additional support both inside and outside of the classroom. As all reading ages are made readily available on Go4Schools, teachers are explicitly aware of their students who may struggle to read new material fluently and, therefore, comprehend the content fully. For these students, teachers will use the nine principles more intensively, provide more scaffolded tasks, and model processes to develop their fluency and understanding.
For some students, a support more intensive in nature may be needed and these students may be enrolled on intervention programmes such as the ‘Reading Recovery Programme’ or the morning ‘Accelerated Reader Programme’. Other students may be extracted for additional intervention to pre-teach material to develop familiarity and confidence or to practise reading fluency and comprehension using a range of engaging materials. Some students follow specific intervention programmes to develop their reading abilities: whether in small groups while completing our ‘Lexonik Advance Programme’, or one-to-one while completing our ‘Switch-on Reading Programme’. For some students, with particular needs, support with phonics may be necessary and is developed using the ‘Talisman’ series of books.