At Wykham Park Academy, we have a multifaceted approach to supporting our students’ literacy development.
This includes:
- Tier 2 word lists that are explicitly taught for all schemes of learning to grow students’ vocabularies
- Weekly mentor reading booklets in Years 7-10 with termly curriculum links
- Planned for rigorous academic texts across the curriculum
- A resourced library and a librarian that encourages reading for pleasure and engages actively with lessons
- Whole-school literacy marking stickers supported by departmental assessment policies
- Lexia PowerUp used across our entire Year 7 cohort to address previous gaps in word study, grammar and comprehension knowledge
- Thinking Reading to support struggling readers who require one-to-one intervention
Our school places a high value on reading and believe we have the responsibility to ensure every child leaves a critical, active and wide reader. We encourage our community to read often and independently, and our librarian, Mrs Michell, has put together reading lists as a starting point. All of the texts suggested on the list are available for loan from our library.
Year 7 – Recommended reading list
Year 8 – Recommended reading list
Year 9 – Recommended reading list
Year 10 and 11 – Recommended reading list
We welcome author talks and have a weekly reading hour as part of the ATL curriculum for Years 7 and 8, whereby students participate in before/ during/ after activities. Extra-curricular clubs also form an important part of our approach, enabling students to share their interests with like-minded peers.
Many parents and carers are eager to empower young people at home through reading, and we endeavour to assist in a number of practical ways, including the advice outlined by PixL concerning the benefits of reading and ways to encourage reading.
Reading support for parents