It has long been said that children learn to read in primary school and read to learn in secondary school. But the Department for Education’s new reading framework, published last year, gave secondary schools a clear directive to quickly get the weakest readers to catch up.
It would be easy for reading leads to feel overwhelmed by the increase in expectations, with budget, staffing and timetable restrictions making this a challenging prospect.
But it can be done. Over the past few years we have developed a reading strategy that has improved standards across the school, including a 23 per cent rise in the number of disadvantaged students meeting the national benchmark - with one student making more than four years of progress in her reading in only one year.
Furthermore, nearly 80 per cent of targeted students made expected progress or higher, and 25 per cent made higher or much higher progress.
Here’s how we’ve done it.
Our secondary school reading strategy
Focusing on effective leadership
The government framework states that “headteachers are ultimately responsible for building the reading culture in their school”. But the day-to-day implementation of a plan to improve reading is often led by another senior leader or an overburdened literacy lead or English teacher.
These leaders need the agency to make important decisions that keep reading high on the agenda, and they need to work closely with the Sendco in their setting, using data to develop a tiered model of support that spans multiple departments.
At our school, all staff involved in implementing the reading strategy, from senior leadership to support staff, meet half-termly to share impact and review next steps. Minutes from meetings are shared with the wider senior leadership team and we report our reading progress to governors.
Using technology wisely
Most schools have already bought into digital communication and organisation platforms, such as Microsoft 365 Education and Google Workspace for Education. These have integrated tools to assist with screening students’ reading fluency.
With our process, it now takes less than two minutes to screen a child, requiring only access to a computer with a webcam and mic.
Creating a central literacy needs register
Once diagnostic screening has taken place, the creation of a central register that specifically outlines literacy and reading barriers can make the process more manageable. It means that those students who might not feature on traditional additional needs registers are quickly identifiable.
Our register is a one-stop shop for all things reading-related. It includes students’ images, any additional needs, if they are eligible for the pupil premium, as well as their current reading age (in years and months) and their spelling age.
When we carry out further screening, we colour code the register to show specific reading barriers at a glance - comprehending, decoding or issues with fluency - as well as proven strategies to support students with these barriers.
Boosting reading for pleasure
To help create a culture where reading is both encouraged and celebrated, we focus on free programmes that instil a lifelong love of reading outside of the classroom.
One of our most successful initiatives has been the “reading surgery”, where we help match a student to a book they may enjoy, based on books they have previously enjoyed, with the assistance of student “reader leaders” and library staff.
This is further supported by holding book competitions (with low-cost prizes) and hosting reading aloud sessions in tutor time once a week, followed by a facilitated discussion on the book.
Reading is fundamental to helping children to reach their full potential; it is vital for their future success, happiness and ability to fully access and interact with the wider world around them.
Emily Walker-Nolan is assistant headteacher at The Compton School, part of the Middlesex Learning Trust
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