Literacy at Holyrood

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read” – Mark Twain

What literacy looks like at Holyrood

At Holyrood literacy is a corner stone of everything we teach. It is a fundamental part of our students’ education, and it is our aim for all students to become readers who are confident and fluent; writers who are academic and passionate and oracy experts capable of persuasion and clarity. Literacy is so much more than just skills taught in English. In order to achieve and be successful in all  , our students need to have a fundamental understanding of both general and subject specific vocabulary.

This is why all the subjects taught at Holyrood have created their own disciplinary literacy document, which goes into greater depth about how each subject department teaches our students the vocabulary needed to be successful in that subject.

You can find these documents HERE. 

Every subject embeds reading into most lessons and all students are taught the vocabulary they need to succeed in that subject.  This vocabulary increases in complexity over time.  Vocabulary is divided into 3 tiers.  Tier 1 – high frequency in spoken language (table, slowly, write, horrible)

  • Tier 2 – high frequency in written texts (gregarious, beneficial, required, maintain)

  • Tier 3 – subject specific, academic language (osmosis, trigonometry, onomatopoeia)

Click Here for An example of how Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary in RPE develops over 5 years. 

Our Reading Stategy

Reading is a vital skill all our students must master, and this is embedded across all our curriculums. We are committed to all our students leaving Holyrood having significantly developed their reading confidence, fluency and comprehension and with the skills to decode unfamiliar words.  Reading doesn’t stop at Primary School!

Click Here for our Reading Priority

A student who reads for just 20 minutes a day, will have read 1,800,000 words over a year!

Sparx Reader

At Key Stage three all students have a Sparx reading homework once a week and a Sparx English lesson once a fortnight. Sparx Reader is an online reading platform that helps students to practise reading regularly, to set them up for success at secondary school and in life beyond.

Tutor Time Reading

All Year 7,8,9 & 10 tutor groups collectively read three novels across an academic year. These novels are carefully chosen to guide students in learning more about important themes. All our reading novels are also chosen to support students’ personal development and explore British Values.  For example: we look at attitudes to migration and asylum seeking, the consequences of extremism, the dangers of gangs and county lines, experiences of racism and intolerance & childhood bereavement.  Texts are chosen to complete a canon of texts explored in English and tutor time.

To see more information, Click Here.

Our Library
(Learning Resource Centre)

Students are lucky to have access to an extensively stocked library, housed within our Learning Centre, staffed by passionate and knowledgeable library assistants who are perfectly placed to assist them with reading and homework enquiries whilst also running regular reading clubs including an incredibly popular ‘silent reading for pleasure’ lunchtime on the last Thursday of every month. Year Seven and Year Eight students also take part in a four-week summer readathon, which last year raised almost £800 to buy books for children in hospital.

Assessing Reading

We assess reading ability at the start and the end of each academic year, allowing us to identify students who require further diagnostic testing and reading interventions. Those who are identified as requiring further support to improve their reading abilities are then offered a small group reading intervention to improve either fluency or comprehension skills. These are short-term interventions that rapidly increase the abilities of the student, allowing them to enjoy all their subjects with confidence.

Reading Within the
Wider Community

We work hard to establish and maintain local community links that incorporate reading.

Literacy Ambassadors (Holyrood LABs)

We have a group of students ranging from Year 7-10 who are part of our Literacy Ambassador programme. These students visit one of the local Chard Pre-Schools once a month to read to all Pre-School children attending that setting. It is our belief that it is important to foster a love of reading at a young age and using our students to represent this is a powerful tool. This then culminates in a reading picnic hosted by Holyrood at the end of the Summer Term, to which all children who are due to start Primary school in September are invited. Each child is given their own copy of a book to keep, this was kindly sponsored last year.

Reading in Chard

We have strong links with the Chard Library and the Chard Community Hub with all Year Eight students taken on a visit to the library during an English lesson. The Community Hub runs a reading programme for parents and toddlers.

Reading at Home

All Holyrood students are encouraged to read for pleasure outside of school whether that is part of a house reading competition, as part of the Readathon, in completion of their Sparx reading homework or by utilising one of the hundreds of exciting fiction and non-fiction books that students can borrow from our Learning Centre.

You can support your child’s reading by:

  • Talking about books and reading with them. This can include encouraging them to discuss what they are currently reading for their Sparx and asking where they are on their class leaderboard.

  • Listen to them read aloud as often as you can & encourage them to read to younger members of the family.

  • Let them see you reading.

  • Encourage them to read a broad range of texts that cover their interests. Reading isn’t just about novels: newspapers, biographies, blog posts etc, they all count.

  • Reminding them that reading can be a joyful and exciting experience – where else can you escape to a tropical island, slay dragons and walk in the shoes of extraordinary characters?

  • Join your local library, it’s free! Chard library is an amazing community resource for readers and often runs amazing reading events.

  • Support them to know that the best way to improve their understanding of anything new is to read about it.