Our Aims:
- To foster a culture of reading for pleasure and offer our pupils a range of reading experiences, as well as the interventions and support that they require.
- All pupils develop a love of reading and make accelerated progress in line with their academic ability, to narrow the gap.
- Pupils meet their outcomes in their Educational Health Care Plans by developing their reading and communication skills.
- Every pupil has the literacy and reading skills to move successfully onto Post 16 education and employment.
Reading at Endeavour:
At Endeavour Academy we strive to create a reading culture where reading is championed, valued, respected and encouraged. Our library lies at the heart of our school and is a place where pupils are encouraged to read and study. We are committed to promoting a love of reading. This includes not only giving our pupils the opportunity to read in English, but also across all curriculum subjects. We have a dedicated reading time of 20 minutes per day. This reading time consists of Word of the Week, First News, library time and a weekly quiz to retrieve information read in the First News newspaper.
Reading Assessments:
All pupils, upon entry to Endeavour Academy, receive a reading and spelling assessment using the MARKS Rising Stars Assessment. This provides a Reading and Spelling Age and enables us to identify pupils that are in need of further support and ensure curriculum resources are accessible to all pupils.
Phonics
Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skillfully.
They are taught how to:
- Recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes;
- Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’; and
- Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.
- Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. Unfortunately due to a number of factors including movement between schools at Primary age, learning needs, SEN barriers etc., many secondary age pupils have not yet consolidated phonics and therefore struggle to decode and read fluently which can result in not being able to access the Secondary Curriculum and ultimately disengaging from education.
Phonics Assessments:
All pupils will receive a phonics assessment if they have a reading age below 8 years.
Based on the outcomes of the Phonics Assessments, pupils will be identified as needing one of the following interventions:
- 1:1 phonics through Lexia Power Up
- Precision Teaching
Precision Teaching:
Precision teaching is designed to get learners to think quickly until they're able to recall the spelling, decoding and reading of a certain word almost instinctively. We offer this to all pupils identified by teaching staff across subjects. The intervention is run on a 1:1 basis three times a week. We are able to consolidate knowledge ensuring pupils are able to access the curriculum and progress.
Lexia Power Up:
This program is designed to help pupils develop fundamental reading skills, such as phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The programme is offered to all KS3 pupils and identified KS4 pupils.
VIPERS:
Reading comprehension can be divided into further domains; Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explaining, Retrieval and Sequencing/Summarising: we call this VIPERS.
Vipers is delivered as a selected KS3 class intervention at Endeavour Academy, to ensure that we are asking our pupils a broad range of questions so that they are able to develop a range of comprehension skills, regardless of their academic ability .
Reading Experiences:
Throughout the school year, the importance of reading is enhanced through assemblies, competitions, World Book Day and in-class reading challenges.