Why is reading so important?
Reading is fundamental. In fact, it is one of the most important ingredients to becoming all that you can be. Reading develops your brain, provides a window into the world around you and helps you do better in all school subjects. It’s a way to stimulate your creativity, to provoke thinking and to open up a whole, magical world of adventure. You gain a more ambitious, wider vocabulary from reading and it’s the size of your vocabulary that determines your life chances, so you can see why reading is the gateway to your future! As Roald Dahl observed, “If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.”
- So, here at Corbridge, we want to encourage a love of books and a passion for reading in all our pupils and here is how we do it:
To encourage pupils to read each day, we ask them to record their reading in their journals and to get their parents or carers involved too, by sharing their child’s reading if they can, and signing their journal pages. In KS2, regular reading is rewarded with one of our Corbridge teddies in a range of colours, for the children to collect as their reading progresses. In KS3, we have reading challenges and competitions to promote a love of reading and diversity in texts, in preparation for high school and the demands of GCSEs. It’s important to become a lifelong reader, for pleasure as well as study, so we make sure pupils have new and different material to try and that they maybe read something they never considered before. - To promote a love of reading, we have an amazing school library, which is open every lunchtime and every breaktime, for precious reading time. It is run by Mrs Ramsey, our librarian, who runs reading groups, organises displays linked to topics taught in school, or relevant to our pupils’ lives, and will recommend books for the children to try. She is ably assisted by pupil librarians who are keen readers themselves and will help pupils choose books, suggest next texts and review their reading to help others. We are lucky that our PTA supports our library with kind donations and that our parents and teachers donate good quality, pre-loved books to swell our shelves. We also get the newest children’s books – many not even yet published – from our friends at Forum Books in Corbridge, which means our pupils are exposed to the best of new children’s literature, often long before others!
- To support our passion for reading, we ask all pupils to read in registration each morning and afternoon. Our teachers will also have a dedicated time each week in which they may read a great book or poem to their class, share what they are reading in their spare time or ask for recommendations to give others ideas for what to read next. We also purchase the weekly School Newspaper ‘First News’. This is an excellent news resource for young people. It is informative and current, but accessible for pupils with a wide range of literacy abilities. The publication is delivered to school each week and distributed across all Form Classes. We have also purchased a variety of subject-specific text for those who have a keen interest in a specific subject e.g. Coding in Computing. We are a school that loves reading.
- To get pupils talking about books and reading, we have reading groups running through the library, celebrate World Book Day and National Poetry Day in school with a host of events, hold regular book fairs and author visits, share recommendations through book reviews for Forum bookshop in Corbridge and teachers regularly model reading for pleasure – check out what your teacher reads at home by looking on their classroom door! It’s updated every time they finish a book and might just inspire you too.
At Corbridge Middle School, we know that reading is the foundation to the children’s overall learning. Without adequate reading skills, a child faces barriers throughout the curriculum. Because of this, we adopt a range of strategies to ensure that our children become confident readers who understand what they read, and most importantly enjoy it! At Corbridge Middle School, the foundation for learning to read for pleasure and understanding comes from:
The teaching of active reading strategies, comprehension skills and the development of new vocabulary knowledge during timetabled reading lessons and in English lessons;
- Pupils select a ‘reading for pleasure’ book from the library or classroom and have opportunity to read these at home and at school.
- Children are also given the opportunity to read in other curriculum areas;
- Continuous assessment and monitoring to ensure all children are reading at a level appropriate to their age;
- Specific catch up and booster schemes for those children who are recognised as not meeting expected standards in reading for their age;
- Access to a wide range of genres in both fiction and non-fiction.
- Displays in classrooms celebrating and recommending reading .
Corbridge Middle School Reading Results at KS2
| 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | ||
| Corbridge Middle School | Pupils who met the expected standard in reading at KS2 | 89% | 91% | 81% | 82% |
| Pupils who were higher attaining in reading at KS2 | 39% | 51% | 39% | 47% | |
| Average scaled score in reading at KS2 | 108.31 | 109.26 | 107.49 | 108.00 | |
| National Results | Pupils who met the expected standard in reading at KS2 | 75% | 73% | 74% | 75% |
| Pupils who were higher attaining in reading at KS2 | 28% | 28% | 29% | 33% | |
| Average scaled score in reading at KS2 | 105 | 105 | 105 | 106 |
Corbridge Middle School GCSE English Predictions
In Year 8 we use external testing from GL Assessment to predict what our pupils performance in English at GCSE will be.
| Y8 2022-23 | Y8 2023-24 | Y8 2024-25 | |
| Average predicted GCSE English result | 5.8 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
Reading – A Guide for Parents and Carers
How You Can Support Your Child’s Reading Development
Your support in developing your child’s reading ability is essential. In fact, research shows that reading to and with your child is the single most important thing you can do to help your child’s education. It’s best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for it every day.
Think of ways to make reading fun – you want your child to learn how pleasurable books can be. If you’re both enjoying talking about the content of a particular page, linger over it for as long as you like. Books aren’t just about reading the words on the page, they can also present new ideas and topics for you and your child to discuss. In fact, once children have learned to read the next stage is reading to learn! Using phonics (sound knowledge) to work out unknown words by segmenting them and blending the sounds back together is a skill all readers can use – fluent or otherwise. There are some very useful videos on the Oxford Owl website to help parents with using the pure sounds to help children read. See the link at the bottom of the page.
Tips for helping your child to enjoy books:
- Schedule a regular time for reading – perhaps when you get home from school or just before bed.
- Buy dual-language books if English isn’t your family’s first language – you can talk about books and stories, and develop a love for them, in any language.
- Look for books on topics that you know your child is interested in – maybe dragons, insects, cookery or a certain sport.
- Make sure that children’s books are easily accessible in different rooms around your house.
- Consider books that open your child’s mind to other cultures and ideas that are not part of their everyday life.
- Look at the links at the bottom of this page for more great ideas.
Below are some resources that will take you to information and websites with further guidance.
