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Reading for Success
Reading for Success at St Birinus School
We all know reading matters for children. Research tells us the many reasons why. Deeper comprehension. Richer vocabulary. Wider general knowledge. Better understanding of other cultures. Greater insight into human nature. (Source: Research of evidence of Reading for Pleasure, UK Government.)
Because of this, reading should be made possible where ever it is a struggle,
At St Birinus School, we want to reading to be possible where it is a struggle, and all boys open to the potential of books as a source of enjoyment and interest, when so many other activities compete for their attention.
To do this, we have a range of programmes to support your child in their reading journey. This page has an overview of each, along with tips for where the biggest difference is made – supporting boys’ reading at home.
Tutor Reading Programme
Our Tutor Reading Programme in now into its fourth year. Pupils in years 7-10 read three times a week in their tutor group. Trained tutors read to their tutees, who track the text with a bookmark. Tutor groups will read around three books each year, and the choices available to each year group are listed below. These texts have been carefully selected so that the range of narratives address age-appropriate themes with a high level of challenge.
Tutor reading is primarily a social experience: it builds a sense of community and belonging through the covering themes and concepts that are valuable for personal development. Yet the regular modelling of fluent reading, and exposure to written vocabulary that is wider than everyday speech, also makes a significant contribution to the language skills crucial to pupils’ academic development.
We are incredibly proud to have led on a programme like this. The scale on which it works – around 900 boys being read to three times a week for almost 40 weeks of the year – is a testament to the efforts of tutors who have made it an almost unremarkable part of school life. We remain excited by it and hope you will join us in supporting our students with their reading journey.
If you have any questions about the Tutor Reading Programme, please contact Mr Rob Reid: rreid@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk.
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Year 7 |
Year 8 |
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Year 9 |
Year 10 |
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Bedrock Vocabulary
Research highlights that vocabulary development is key in improving literacy and attainment. For this reason, Bedrock Vocabulary is the English department’s primary homework platform for years 7-10. Depending on the year group, pupils must complete two or three lesson a week between Monday and Sunday, along with any tests or quizzes required. As pupils progress through the Bedrock curriculum, they study hundreds of words, whilst reading a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts.
When pupils use Bedrock for the first time, they take a short reading test which assigns them to a block. The blocks range from 3-12. Pupils automatically move up or down through the different blocks depending on their quiz results.
It’s easy to support your son in completing this homework. Bedrock is simple to use. Why not do a lesson with them each week? It’s fun and shows to them that words are important to you too. If you want to see what words your son is learning, how they are progressing through the lessons, and what scores they are getting on their tests, then you are welcome to request your parent access code. All you need to do is contact Mrs Hannah Rabey for this, or indeed any other questions about Bedrock: hrabey@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk
St Birinus Library
The library offers an enormous selection of books covering every genre including war and football stories, thrillers, magical adventures, science fiction and comedy. The library is open everyday, and students can visit and ask for help with book choices.
The entire library is online allowing you to browse available books the link is: https://stbirinus.oliverasp.co.uk
If you would like some specific reading suggestions, please email Miss Wren at awren@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk.
Library Lessons
Once a fortnight in years 7-9, pupils are timetabled one English lesson in the library. During this house, pupils can also get a advice on choosing a new book and time to make a start on it. Our sixth form students are assigned to some classes as part of their leadership hour responsibilities and help by reading with those boys who find reading more of a struggle. We also promote SBS Book Bingo, an initiative run by the Trust’s Reading for Pleasure lead, Leoni Barnes. Pupils are challenged to read one book from the seven choices available within each of our nine specified genres. They are awarded house points for a completed line in the gird of their planner. If you have any questions about this, contact Mrs Leonie Barnes: lbarnes@didcotgirls.oxon.sch.uk
Reading Intervention
We have two interventions run by our expert teaching assistants from the inclusion department: Lexonix Leap and Lexonix Advance.
Lexonix Leap is our small-group phonics intervention. It supports pupils to improve their decoding– translating the letters on the page into spoken sounds. For students who qualify for this programme, it is the vital first step away from reading from being a serious struggle and towards it becoming a viable choice. As such, Lexonix Leap is significant addition to our offering on reading.
Lexonix Advance is a more established programme. It is small-group programme supporting pupils to improve the accuracy and rate of their single word reading. The pupils on this programme already have a firm enough grasp of phonics. The aim of Lexonix Advance is to pupils apply this knowledge more accurately. They are reminded of how to segment words into their individual sounds before blending them back together again, providing them with a generalisable way to approach unfamiliar words.
Finally, we offer a fluency programme for pupils who are just below their reading age. Instead of tutor reading, pupils are in a small group where they hear a short piece of text read fluently by their teaching, before reading it with them, and then reading it independently to each other. This repeated reading affords pupils the opportunity to improve their speed, accuracy and expression, which are the three components of fluent reading. We hope that this will promote greater automaticity in reading, which in turn creates the mental space for pupils to comprehend what they are reading about.
For more information about Lexonix, contact Mr Stephen Davies: sdavies@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk. For more information about fluency, contact Mr Rob Reid: rreid@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk
Reading in Class
As a whole staff we are looking to create more opportunities for reading to feature in class. Teachers have begun training on how to model good reading, how to use choral response techniques for unfamiliar words, and how to make reading and the subsequent discussion of it more active and accountable. Boys will increasingly come to see this as part of the way they are taught, making text a central part of lessons at St Birinus, and setting them up for success in their exams and beyond.
The importance of reading at home
Reading at home is so important. But it can hard to encourage this, increasingly so with teenagers. Here are three strategies for supporting your child at home.
Take an interest in their reading. What happened in your tutor reading book today? What did you read in one of your lessons today? What new word did you hear at school today? You probably already ask how school was each day; this slight shift in focus might move the conversation towards a more interesting, expansive answers and, over time, the sense in your son that language should be important to them because it’s important you
Be interested in words yourself. Everybody uses them. You don’t need to be a reader to be interested in words. If you hear one you don’t know, show your son that it’s an opportunity to learn something by looking it up and talking about it – What do you think it means? What does it actually mean? What other words is it like that you already know? How do you spell it? There are lots of words – more than you could ever hope to learn. Each unknown could be a potential source of anxiety, or an exciting opportunity to learn something new. If you can frame it for your son as the latter, then they’re likely to be more word-curious themselves.
Create the space so that reading is possible. Reading competes against countless other activities for students’ attention – and frequently loses. It doesn’t need to beat the competition for very long – 20 minutes a day, perhaps – but it often needs some help to win for even this short time. This is easier said the done, but the benefits of reading are such that it is worth the effort.
