At The Kassia Academy, we see learning to read as every students right.
Whilst many of our students face barriers in the process of learning to read, it is our duty to support learners to overcome those barriers and to learn to decode and understand the written word. We also see it as our duty, to inspire our learners to see the value in reading. Many learners will need to support in finding a genre, author or style of writing from which they can derive pleasure and it is our job to do just that, whilst broadening learners’ interests and exposing them to new literature.
Every year at Kassia, we celebrate World Book day with all the teachers choosing characters and dressing up to inspire the learners with, an emphasis on promoting reading for pleasure. We inspire the children to further develop the love of reading for pleasure, which sublimely increases access to learning and the curriculum and capital of culture experiences. Reading opens opportunities and opportunities increase life experiences as the following quote by a great writer once stated.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go.”— Dr. Seuss,
We are in the process of developing a new library in a separate annex for all students visit the library on a weekly basis. This will be a quiet space where children will be able to complete academic reading and research and have further access to genres for reading for pleasure. We will have library monitors in place, so that those with a particular love of reading get the opportunity to put this love into practice in a way that gives them responsibility.
We believe that reading is a vital skill, that supports learning across the whole curriculum. We therefore want our students to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers who are able to read with increasing fluency, accuracy and understanding. We understand that in life to access anything and all areas of the curriculum reading is the core skill that undervalues everything a learner needs to evolve into an independent learner for the future.
We believe it is essential to establish a consistent whole school approach to the teaching of reading by promoting a strong ethos amongst learners and staff through a variety of opportunities to access informative and engaging text that open up the learner’s imagination to worlds that will help develop their own future one.
We aim to ensure that our students are given opportunities to read good quality and interesting fiction and non-fiction texts, from around the world and diverse communities to broaden their horizons of the wider world.
We create a stimulating learning environment where reading materials are attractively presented by enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff who keep up-to-date with current literature and newspapers.
Here at The Kassia Academy our intent is to promote reading for attainment, engagement, enrichment and intervention.
Our learners experience weekly 1:1 reading interventions with our dedicated Learning Mentors. Over the school year, they are offered a selection of engaging books from different genres.
Depending on reading age, each learner is expected to make their way through the reading spine of Kassia’s tailor-made book bands. Every time a book is completed learners will receive a book voucher which they may use to spend on a book of their choice. (A book for a book!) Once a learner has read three books, they receive a certificate of achievement in Tutor Time, which this then added to their reading record.
Phonics: all students will be taught phonics (if required) through dedicated 1:1 interventions using our Bedrock English intervention programme and assessed termly. It is designed to help practitioners to teach students how to decode letters and sounds and how to make meaning of the words they decode.
Shared Reading: the whole class share a text with specific reading skills or features of differing genre being taught. This will be weekly. This may be as part of a lesson, other than English
Individual Reading: students read age appropriate reading books, magazines and local newspapers (Warrington Guardian). This may be a physical reading book, or an online book (E-readers being currently set-up). Every student will read with an adult (Learning Mentor) every week.
Reading Aloud: students are encouraged to read aloud to a variety of audiences.
Class Reader: the teacher reads aloud reading material that is age appropriate and of interest to the students. This will happen on a Friday with different texts each term for KS3 and KS4.
Library: All learners have access to a school library and scheduled library lessons form part of their curriculum offer every week. All learners are encouraged to utilise our libraries, loan books and update them regularly.
Kassia Orford Jubilee Hub Site: Learners at our orford site have full access to Orford Jubilee Hub Livewire Library. Learners have full membership and visit the library weekly as part of their timetabled curriculum. Here they are encouraged to loan books and update them regularly.
Kassia Longbarn Site: New to our main school site this year is a purpose-built library in a stunning new build. Learners are able to access this fabulous resource through weekly library lessons and during social time. The wide variety of resources are provided by the ELS (Education Library Service) who supply resources and books which are replaced termly to ensure learners have access to the most up to date and relevant texts and resources to support their learning. This fabulous new resource also hosts an e-reader section with tablets to support readers who may not enjoy the use of traditional books.
Reading Resources: Many of our reading resources are updated weekly through subscriptions and our library resources every term in order to provide a language rich environment, and keep reading fresh and exciting. Resources are matched to our Curriculum Maestro resources.
Literacy Leaderboard: Within 1:1 reading interventions, learners will be asked to read the 3 books included their book band; Bronze Emerging, Bronze Secure, Silver and Gold. Once learners have read a book and written their review they will recieve a gold ticket worth 10 tuck shop tokens!!
The Cheshire Book Awards: In partnership with the Education Library Service, The Kassia Academy are actively involved in The Cheshire Book Awards, which encourages our learners to read nominated books and vote for their favourite. Our staff and learners are extremely excited to be attending the awards ceremony later in the year!
Accelerated Reader puts students in the driver’s seat. Students are guided, while engaging quizzes and activities help hone students’ reading skills with authentic practice - encouraging growth.
From recognizing students’ achievements to students discovering new interests, Accelerated Reader helps create a culture of reading through choice.
Students who read more perform better academically.
