“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
Mark Twain
Pleckgate students are being encouraged to develop a life-long love of reading, thanks to a renewed focus on reading; Pleckgate High School is bidding to become a Reading School during the academic year 2017-18.
The importance of regular reading is encouraged at Pleckgate through tutor time, guided visits to the school library and regular reading opportunities in all lessons. We encourage our students to have the confidence to read aloud in lessons, to help develop their speaking and comprehension skills.
All students in Year 7 and 8 are enrolled in the Accelerated Reader programme and are given a reading age, a reading target and advice on the range of books that are suitable for them. Regular quizzing by students has helped to improve reading for some who were not regular readers. For those who are, they have been rewarded with the title of ‘millionaire reader’; the achievement of reading over a million words is celebrated for all students.
Our well-resourced Library has a wide range of materials including fiction and nonfiction, magazines and materials to help support in lessons. Students can quiz regularly on their iPads and gain points for the number of 100% quizzes.
We also encourage support for our readers in school through:
- We have a team of Year 10 and 11 Reading Mentors who read weekly with a year 7 student to help them develop a love of reading.
- Students are encouraged to read at least one book each half term.
- All Year 7 and 8 students have a reading book with them at all times.
- Reading awards given out in assemblies
- Local authors’ day, with workshops, in school
- Increased use by students of the library in the academy’s Learning Resource Centre
Language and Reading Strategy
Language and reading are central to learning at Pleckgate High School. To support language acquisition and reading, teachers will work with your child to develop vocabulary in each subject area. We will encourage your child to read regularly in each subject. We will support your child to write well in each subject. We value reading for pleasure as much as we value reading for learning.
Our strategy is influenced by research into teaching and learning published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). We intend to improve vocabulary and reading skills in all subjects. In addition to reading for pleasure we intend to make reading for learning a central focus of school life and routines. Whether we’re reading in the Library or the classroom, we’ll
use a stepped approach to developing vocabulary and reading in all subjects.
Our stepped approach includes:
- Talk like a specialist: we will provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject
- Read like a specialist: we will develop students’ ability to read complex academic texts
- Write like a specialist: we will combine writing instruction with reading in every subject.
Each academic term will focus on a key Area of Language and Reading
- Autumn term: Talk like a specialist
- Spring term: Read like a specialist
- Summer term: Write like a specialist
Click here to download the Language and Reading Strategy (PDF)
