Reading
At BBG, we believe that reading is a fundamental aspect – not just of a student’s educational journey – but also in life. We have high expectations of students to ensure that they are well-equipped for their experiences both in their time at BBG and beyond. We also believe that the best support for reading is responsive; accurately identifying concerns regarding comprehension, fluency and vocabulary as they happen. In addition, we use diagnostic strategies for identifying students’ reading ages – such as the NGRT – to ensure that we can identify needs early and monitor progress over time.
Literacy interventions
At BBG, we are committed to ensuring that all our pupils read fluently and confidently. All students are tested bi-annually with standardised reading tests, and we have a number of interventions offered to students by the SEND team, English teachers or qualified external agencies.
Interventions are run before and after school, during registration, and within library lessons. Students who have significant reading weaknesses are offered SEND and small group interventions with a KS2 trained specialist. Students also engage in phonics intervention, adapted from Ruth Miskin, and also have speech, language and communication intervention.
Those students who have some reading concerns as identified by the NGRT are then offered targeted support via small group intervention, focusing on comprehension and inference, and guided reading and writing. These interventions take place both before and after school.
Students who have reading ages below their chronological ages are identified first by the NGRT, and then given support via the online learning platform of Sparx Reader – which encourages engagement and quality reading via a number of texts that students are able to choose. Staff also monitor individual reading choices in the guided literacy lesson that is timetabled once a week at KS3. Quality first teaching and adapted practice round out the support for those who find reading challenging.
In our Literacy Lesson for students, we employ guided reading strategies to support students’ comprehension and fluency. Guided reading is one of the most effective tools, not only to improve a student's fundamental reading skills but also to help the student develop higher level comprehension skills.
With guided reading, we can directly help the student:
• Establish fundamental skills necessary for proficient reading;
• Identify weaknesses and strengthen specific skills;
• Improve attention to detail;
• Build fluency;
• Expand vocabulary knowledge;
• Develop reading comprehension skills;
• Guided reading is enjoyable! Guided reading offers a wonderful opportunity to share the joy of reading with your child.
A Culture of Reading at BBG
At BBG Academy, we want to support students in the best way possible to ensure they make progress, as well as stretching and challenging them to achieve their best possible outcomes. We run a Creative Writing club that meets weekly, which allows students the opportunity to challenge themselves to write a variety of texts. We participate in writing and poetry competitions and regularly have students’ work published in writing collections read nationwide. We ensure that students can see the written word come to life in drama and spoken-word experiences – both within our curricula and outside of it – and encourage students to think beyond secondary school with our Post-16 Literature club.
At the end of the year, we celebrate all things literary with our Literary Festival, a bright spot in the year that brings together drama, literature, poetry and art. Published authors, celebrated poets, well-known comedians and playwrights all contribute to the event, which brings together parents and teachers from across both the community and our Trust.
