Reading and Literacy

At Ridgeway we recognise the importance of reading and vocabulary acquisition as essential in enhancing students' understanding of the curriculum in all subjects. Therefore, we aim to broaden students' reading horizons by exposing them to a wide range of engaging and interesting texts, alongside providing students with support with their reading acquisition.

It is an expectation that Year 7 and 8 students have a reading book with them at all times as students are given time to read within library lessons.

Students in Year 7 and Year 8 have a fortnightly library lesson where they are encouraged to explore and engage with a variety of texts available within our well-resourced library. They are also encouraged to read at home and will be expected to complete 30 minutes of careful reading a week on Sparx Reader.

Students also receive a weekly reading session through form time reading.

In addition, all students in Key Stage 3 complete reading tests. This information is shared with teaching staff to help tailor lessons to suit the needs of students in the classroom, and is used to identify students who may benefit from targeted intervention.

At Ridgeway, with support students to become confident readers by:

• Modelling expert reading to students within the classroom.
• Ensuring the purpose of reading is clear to students in every task.
• Practicing reading through research-based strategies such as choral and echo reading.
• Selecting appropriate texts.
• Pre-teaching vocabulary.

 Students who are identified as developing readers may be offered the following interventions:

• Phonics training.
• Reading and fluency comprehension lessons.

Ridgeway Reading Strategies