Reading Appendix Sir Thomas Boughey

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies...the man who never reads lives only one." George R.R. Martin

Our goal is every child to be able to read at an age appropriate level, with fluency and without barrier, to ensure that they can access the full curriculum and experience the joy of being able to read for pleasure.

This is a school-specific appendix to the Windsor Academy Trust Literacy Policy. It will evidence the strategies in place for students to help them read under the three main categories below:

• Reading Culture
• Reading in Subject
• Reading Intervention

Reading Culture

Our Tutor Reading programme provides a carefully curated bank of age‑appropriate texts for students in Key Stage 3, and non‑fiction articles for Year 10.

• Key Stage 3: Students enjoy a range of engaging, level‑appropriate fiction chosen to nurture a love of reading.
• Year 10: Students read shorter non‑fiction articles, selected to expose them to a variety of viewpoints and styles—supporting their understanding of perspectives required for GCSE Language Paper 2.

Staff read aloud during these sessions to model accurate pronunciation, fluent reading and expressive delivery. Consistent questioning is used throughout to promote comprehension, discussion and critical thinking. 

To strengthen students’ confidence and enjoyment in reading, Key Stage 3 classes follow a structured programme designed to expose them to a wide range of high‑quality texts in a dedicated reading lesson each weekly

• In Year 7 and Year 8 students use specially designed Poetry Booklets that encourage regular engagement with poetry and help students develop the skills needed to understand meaning, explore language and form, and discuss writers’ choices. Lessons focus on reading the poems together and exploring their themes and techniques.
• In Year 9, students take part in DEAL lessons, which mirror the structure of Tutor Reading. Teachers read aloud from a carefully selected choice of texts while students follow along. Lessons include discussion‑based activities to develop comprehension, interpretation and critical thinking. This shared reading approach also supports students in hearing fluent, expressive reading modelled by staff.

Our commitment to ensuring every child becomes a confident, fluent reader extends beyond the classroom and into our homework programme through Sparks Reader. By engaging with short, regular reading tasks at home, students benefit from research‑backed gains in vocabulary, comprehension, and long‑term academic progress. Evidence shows that consistent reading practice—especially in manageable daily bursts—helps strengthen cognitive stamina, improves writing skills, and builds a positive reading habit that supports overall wellbeing. Through Sparks Reader, we reinforce our whole‑school aim: to nurture enthusiastic, capable readers who are equipped to succeed across all subjects.

Beyond this, Sir Thomas Boughey Academy actively promotes a rich culture of reading by ensuring the library is open to all students during breaktime, lunchtime, and after school, as well as hosting a range of bespoke events. Staff can also book the library for lessons, where they deliver teaching and develop reading approaches that support students’ literacy. 

Our library has been used for a wide variety of initiatives, including peer mentor reading during tutor time, small-group English tuition, Bedrock lessons, and opportunities for Student Librarian Leaders. Students have taken part in national and regional literacy events such as Take 10 to Read (National Literacy Trust), the BBC 500 Words Competition, the Britannica Team Quiz, and the National Reading Champions Quiz. We further enrich reading experiences by celebrating themed days and weeks—including World Poetry Day, World Book Day, and National Storytelling Week—as well as promoting programmes like the Children’s Laureate, INTO Film cinema trips, Young Teen Fiction, and the YOTO Carnegie Reading. This extensive offer fosters enthusiasm for reading and nurtures confident, motivated readers.

Reading in Subject

As part of curriculum development in each subject area, there is consideration to disciplinary literacy and a systematic approach to considering the disciplinary language (Tier 3 vocabulary) and other academic language (Tier 2 vocabulary) that students will encounter and need to be confident in reading.  Alongside this, in each subject, there is consideration to the subject-specific nature of the texts that students need to develop confidence in reading as they progress through the curriculum. 

Here our Faculty Directors outline how they approach reading texts within their subjects:

English: At Key Stage 3, lessons often use shorter extracts linked to specific topics or genres. For example, during our Gothic unit, students read a simplified play version of Frankenstein. This approach allows students to experience a range of texts while developing essential reading and comprehension skills. To develop strong understanding of the literature studied, Key Stage 4 students begin each new text with a “cold read”. This means they read the story, novel or play in its entirety before completing any written analysis. By building familiarity with the plot, characters and themes first, students are then able to revisit and “zoom in” on key extracts and sections with greater confidence and insight.

Geography: Reading is central to successful geographical learning. In Geography, disciplinary literacy enables students to engage fully with the subject’s unique language, content and ways of communicating. It supports students in understanding new concepts, grappling with complex ideas and thinking critically about the world around them.

Students are taught to read and interpret a wide range of geographical sources, including maps, graphs, diagrams, photographs and case studies. Through this, they learn to decode specialist information and use evidence to form accurate, well‑reasoned judgements. Strong literacy also underpins extended writing, helping students to construct rigorous, evidence‑based arguments, create factual accounts, make critical evaluations and draw justified conclusions.

Geography teachers explicitly teach students how to read, write and speak like geographers. Lessons introduce an extended academic vocabulary, including both Tier 3 subject‑specific terminology and Tier 2 language needed to communicate ideas clearly and analytically. Vocabulary banks, knowledge organisers and pre‑teaching strategies are used to ensure students understand and can apply essential geographical terms.

Ultimately, our literacy approach aims to guide students from supported practice to becoming independent, articulate and confident geographical thinkers.

History: Our reading strategy supports students in developing strong comprehension and analytical skills. During each cycle, students engage with carefully selected texts using a structured Cornell notes approach. Texts are read aloud by staff, then broken into manageable sections for students to summarise, illustrate, and title. Once the full text has been explored, students produce an overall summary and complete tasks designed to deepen understanding and build connections to the wider historical picture.

At Key Stage 3, we also use history scholarship worksheets featuring interpretations written by historians. Students decode and discuss these texts before answering focused questions—for example, exploring Simon Schama’s views on the Norman Conquest to compare historical perspectives.

Story-based sources are an important element of our curriculum. Students often demonstrate stronger recall when learning through narratives such as testimonies from Birmingham Chain Makers or interviews with child workers during the Industrial Revolution, as well as biographical stories like Hitler before his rise to dictatorship.

In Year 7, we are developing the use of fiction extracts to enrich the topic How Dark Were the Dark Ages? enabling comparisons between medieval Europe and the Middle East.

Across all year groups, information sheets and topic readings are used to model strong reading practices. The skill focus for each lesson shapes how these texts are explored and discussed.

Mathematics: In Mathematics, students read carefully - decoding a complex system of symbols and understand that Tier 2 words can have different meanings in a mathematical context. They have to understand how to use the command word in a question, rather than just understanding what it means. We write mathematically, setting out question workings and writing explanations to justify and analyse mathematical decisions.

MFL: In Modern Foreign Languages [MFL] students read to become confident, curious and reflective linguists. MFL lessons actively support reading and literacy by explicitly teaching decoding skills, reading comprehension and metacognition strategies, including cross-linguistic links. We read for phonetic, grammatical and structural exploration as well as cultural understanding. Connecting reading to other language skills (writing, speaking and listening), and to foster independence, is an important part of reading in MFL. Study extends beyond simply understanding the target language and helps reinforce literacy skills in our student’s first language, creating a "triple literacy" effect. MFL lessons focus on foundational skills to help students access written texts in the target language.

Phonics and Sound-Spelling Links: Teachers explicitly teach the sound-spelling relationships in the target language. This helps students confidently decode new words they encounter, supporting accurate pronunciation and improving reading fluency.
Parts of Speech and Grammar: Instruction focuses on the function of words (e.g., noun, adjective, verb, adverb) and how they form sentences. This knowledge is crucial for deciphering meaning, as knowing that an adjective modifies a noun can help students piece together the information in a complex phrase. 

Morphology: Students are taught to break down unfamiliar words into their parts (prefix, root, suffix) to infer meaning. For example, recognising the root word in Spanish for 'write' can help them understand related words like 'writer' or 'written.'
Cognates and Near-Cognates: Highlighting words that look or sound similar across languages (e.g., adresse in French vs. address in English) is a quick way to build confidence, expand vocabulary, and encourage sensible educated guesses about word meaning.

Science: Disciplinary literacy in Science is central to helping students access the subject’s unique knowledge, language and ways of thinking. Strong scientific literacy enables students to grasp complex ideas, interpret evidence confidently and communicate explanations with accuracy.

Students are explicitly taught how to read and interpret a wide range of scientific texts and representations, including practical methods, data tables, graphs, equations, diagrams and extended explanations. They learn to extract key information, identify variables, recognise patterns and draw valid conclusions. Approaches such as guided reading, annotation, modelling of scientific writing and deliberate practice with exam-style questions support students in working with increasingly demanding material.

Reading Interventions