Literacy

Lifelong Literacy and Learning

At Minsthorpe Community College, we consider all teachers to be teachers of literacy. Our whole College ‘Curriculum Intent’ is to raise the achievements and aspirations of all learners through the delivery of a highly personalised, broad, balanced and inclusive curriculum that ensures all students are literate.  Literacy comprises students’ reading, writing and spoken language skills. In order to access a broad and balanced curriculum, participate in the workplace and contribute positively to society, students need to be literate. Poor literacy skills can be detrimental to a student’s academic achievement, self-esteem and ultimately their life chances. It is for this reason that Minsthorpe Community College implements a robust literacy policy that prioritises these essential skills, supports students who may be struggling and fosters a love of reading.

Reading Culture

Fostering a love of reading is an integral part of our curriculum. A love of reading is crucial in developing an individual’s cultural capital, empathy, and literacy skills. It is our intent to provide as many enriching reading opportunities as possible for the students within our college. Students may decide to read in our well-resourced Library or access the numerous resources and clubs available in this venue. We also promote a love of reading through annual events like ‘World Book Day’, ‘National Poetry Day’ and ‘The Readathon’. Throughout the academic year, students have the opportunity to enter reading orientated competitions like ‘Bookopoly’, exchange their books in ‘Pop Up Libraries’ or attend the ‘Book Club’ which runs every week in the library. At home students also have access to Sparx Reader which contains an E-Library full of a range of novels with the programme tailoring texts to a student’s ability.

Pupils also experience ‘Guided Reading’ during the registration period; students are provided with the opportunity to listen to a full, short story or novel read to them by their teachers who are fluent, passionate readers. Every fortnight, students take part in a Read More, Know More session led by their P&A mentor; in these sessions, pupils will experience a range of texts linked thematically to the college’s personal development curriculum. The whole college reading strategy of before, during and after is implemented in these tutors that aim to build a student’s vocabulary, cultural capital and confidence in inference.  

The importance of reading for pleasure cannot be underestimated. Reading is a fundamental life skill. You can support your child at home by promoting a love of reading and embedding reading into your daily routines. Students who read more become more successful readers. This allows them to retain the vocabulary and background knowledge they need to improve their comprehension. Please support your child be reading with them or by encouraging them to read for at least 30 minutes, every week, on the Sparx Reader programme.

The Reading Curriculum

Within English lessons, students are explicitly taught literacy skills during their fortnightly ‘Literacy Lesson’ delivered by their English teacher. In these lessons, students read extracts from a range of genres (thematically linked to their current scheme of work) to widen vocabulary, develop skills in navigating different forms, enhance cultural capital, and explicitly model to students how to read fluently by predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarising texts. The reading strategies exemplified in ‘Literacy Lessons’ are mirrored across college for consistency and informed by the Education Endowment Foundation’s Reciprocal Reading initiative.

Reading Ages

Upon entry to Minsthorpe Community College, students are assessed using the “Sparx Reader” to provide a ‘Reading Age’. Reading ages are measured in years and months therefore a student with a reading age of 9.04 is reading at the level expected of a child aged 9 years and 4 months. Reading age data is used to established which students are reading at an age above, below or on par with their chronological age. This allows us to tailor our support accordingly.

If you have any questions about your child’s reading age, please contact their English teacher via enquiries@minsthorpe.cc

Targeted Academic Support

As well as the ‘Sparx Reader’ assessment, students also complete a WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Test) 5 test, designed to identify reading, spelling and numeracy skills. This data, along with KS2 scaled scores, is used to identify those students whose reading ability is significantly below the expected standard for their chronological age and rank students according to their level of need.

From this point, students are separated into two reading pathways with struggling readers becoming part of the ‘Reading Extra’ pathway. Reading Extra students benefit from expert teaching from a fortnightly reading lesson as part of their English curriculum led by a phonics specialist; access to decodable books which are tailored to their specific areas of improvement, but maintain an interest level for secondary school students and further intervention from the delivery of the Lexonik intervention programme.

Lexonik Leap: Lexonik is an adult led, classroom-based intervention programme that aims to diagnose and improve upon phonics gaps a student may have through a personalised learning pathway.

Students whose Reading Ages are within two years, at or above their chronological age, benefit from the explicit teaching of reading skills (informed by the EEF’s Reciprocal Reading initiative) in their fortnightly “Literacy Lesson” delivered by their English teacher. Students read extracts from a range of genres (thematically linked to their current scheme of work) to widen vocabulary, develop skills in navigating different forms, enhance cultural capital, and explicitly model to students how to read fluently by predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising texts. We deploy extra staff during these lessons to minimise group size and maximise the impact of the direct instruction they receive. All progress is tracked termly through “Sparx Reader” tests and reviewed in collaboration with “Student Support” to inform next steps. 

Minsthorpe Community College’s Student Support team also offer a range of targeted academic support bespoke to an individual student’s need. This support is conducted in small groups and led by a Higher Level Teaching Assistant and/or a Teaching Assistant. Progress is measured using WRAT V and KTEA-3 (Kaufmen Test of Educational Achievement) assessments.