Reading Matters
Gareth Harris
Principal of Beamont Collegiate Academy
I, along with many others in education, have long known that reading well is the key to unlocking the curriculum and subsequently future achievements. I use the term future achievements generally because reading well will lead to so much more than strong academic outcomes. One of our values here at BCA is: we value reading and the access to society it will bring for our students. So back in February 2021, with this value at the forefront of our thinking, we set out to revolutionise how we go about the teaching of reading.
The first step was to gather (albeit on Zoom!) a group of diverse voices from our school who we knew could be influential. Rather grandiosely called the Reading Task Force the group consisted of myself, teachers of geography, MFL, English, our literacy leader, a teaching assistant and I also invited a headteacher from a primary school in our Trust. The purpose of our first meeting was to gain an understanding of what it means to really commit to the teaching of reading between the ages 11-14. A couple of meetings and a few SWOT analyses later we had something resembling a vision.
There was general consensus around a number of things. Firstly, the teaching of reading was not the sole remit of our English Department. Secondly, the explicit teaching of vocabulary has to be a key feature. The intention here was straightforward; we wanted to expose students to a wide range of demanding vocabulary that would allow them increased access to subject curricula. We also agreed that reading aloud had to feature prominently. This was something that I was keen to see as I firmly hold the belief that Yr7 often marks the end for some students being exposed to regular reading aloud. Next, we agreed that reading should provide students with the opportunity to encounter as much of the cultural and curriculum hinterlands they visit in more depth in subject classrooms. Finally, we were willing to be radical and make structural changes to our curriculum model. From these ideas and principles, the BCA reading curriculum was born.
Following closely the EEF’s School’s Guide to Implementation, we set out to design a reading programme to be delivered by our teachers no matter what their subject; that allowed students to encounter content taught in greater depth in their subjects, that placed great value on reading aloud and approaches that went beyond the superficial, the bolt-on and the gimmick—I’m thinking here of such things as Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) and silent reading time. Quick fix approaches like this simply will not cut it for our local context where too many students arrive from some pretty word poor backgrounds.
Following a trial in the summer term of 2021 we launched our reading curriculum in September. In practical terms this means that students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have two discrete reading lessons. This is in addition to their four hours of English. The reading lessons are taught by a wide range of staff from across the curriculum. It has been powerful to visit reading lessons that are being delivered by science teachers, PE teachers and geography teachers. Through careful planning and sequencing, the students in these lessons will read a range of themed non-fiction texts that allow them to encounter subject content that they will learn in greater depth in the curriculum time of those subjects. For example, so far this year KS3 students, via their reading curriculum, will have encountered the US civil rights movement of the 1960s, the role of Alan Turing in WWII, the power of the Victorian patriarchy and events relating to Tiananmen Square in 1980s China. Rooted in the concept that knowledge is generative we believe this will only help our students as they dig in further to these topics later in their curriculum.
Training teachers in the delivery of our reading curriculum has been a mainstay of our CPD programme so far this year. We have made it clear to teachers that we are committed to improving how they teach reading whether they teach on our reading curriculum this year or in the future. Reciprocal reading forms the foundation for teaching on our reading curriculum accompanied by strong graphic organisers for comprehending vocabulary such as the Frayer Model.
Early indications are that our approach is having impact with assessments showing that students are remembering and applying the complex tier 2 vocabulary they are being taught. I am sure our approach will need tending and it will evolve, as any good curriculum must. In fact, as I was writing this blog a colleague who leads on the design of the reading curriculum emailed me some latest thinking on the pitfalls of reading aloud (We’re getting that bit a little wrong apparently!)