Intent

“Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible” Barack Obama.
At St Matthias we know that reading is essential for all aspects of learning. It is a vital skill
that will support our students in their future placements, but also to become successful
citizens of the modern world. As a school, we endeavour to ensure all our students are taught
to read with fluency, accuracy and understanding through a variety of targeted and cross-
curricular learning opportunities. Above all, we want children in our school to become
enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers.
Reading is arguably the most crucial literacy skill for cross-curricular success in school and
preparing young people for the rest of their lives. The curriculum continues to be dominated
by text, both in print and on screen, and our learners need to be able to read effectively in
order to understand, make sense of and take meaning from the wide range of texts presented
to them. For a significant number of learners who enter our schools with a reading age below
their chronological age, the reading demands of the secondary curriculum in particular prove
extremely challenging. This is often a significant barrier to learning for students who are
referred to our academy. Secondary school pupils who continue to have difficulty accessing
text have already struggled with learning to read for up to seven years. We aim to support
those students to make rapid progress in their reading so that they can move on to their next
placement with the tools required to succeed.

Implementation

Reading is taught throughout the whole school and all teachers are teachers of reading. At St.
Matthias, we strive to give pupils a stimulating environment, where reading is common and
materials are presented in an attractive and inviting way.
In addition to reading across the curriculum at St Matthias Academy, all students receive small
group intervention in reading. They have extensive opportunities to improve their reading
skills in their targeted reading sessions throughout the week. These focus on specific
development areas: including decoding, comprehension and vocabulary building to ensure
they have the necessary vocabulary for life and for their academic curriculum as well as
student led reading for pleasure sessions, which allow them to develop a love of reading for
primarily for enjoyment, using a wide range of books and multimedia texts that they can
choose from.
Students who are identified as working significantly below their chronological age are able to
receive additional one to one intervention, including in phonics, to rapidly improve their
reading skills. Many students who struggle in school frequently, have struggles with reading,
so regular and effective intervention can make a huge difference on their academic ability as
well as their behaviour. Staff are trained to implement the Read, Write, Inc phonics

intervention programmes which are designed to help students who are not yet confident and
fluent readers.

Impact

Students at St Matthias make rapid progress with their reading age during their placements
with us.
The impact of reading is monitored across a range of progress measures linked to the broad
provision and opportunities to display reading skills. Progress is centrally tracked and
monitored by key staff.
Measurements for progress in reading are taken from:
● Primarily- Progress in Reading ages set by YARC across testing periods
● Progress in Vernon spelling tests
● Progress in RWI Phonics intervention assessments
● Progress in English summative assessment outcomes over time
● Improvement in SPAG skills from formative teacher marking
● Improved engagement and confidence in tutor reading tasks
● Improved engagement and confidence in lesson reading tasks
● Student self-assessment