Literacy and Reading
A round up of all the exciting events that have happened in
literacy and reading this academic year.
Once again it has been a busy year for literacy and reading here at The Leigh Academy, and we are extremely proud of our achievements and those of our students.
A round-up of events
Star Reader Testing - Closing the Reading Age Gap
September saw our first round of testing using the Star Reader test for Year 7. This baseline testing allowed us to identify students who perhaps needed a little extra help with reading. These students were offered interventions to improve their fluency, phonics or comprehension, kindly supported by the SEN Department, teachers, one of our governors and the Post-16 Leadership Team, each with success.
In March, Years 8, 9 and 10 had the first of their bi-annual reading tests and the results demonstrated that the whole school strategy and interventions were having a positive effect: 55% of students decreased their reading age gap in just 6 months!
The latest round of testing for Years 7- 10 is taking place during June and July and we are sure that our children will continue to make excellent progress with their reading skills
Events
This year we have provided several opportunities for students to immerse themselves in all things reading and literacy.
From World Book Day (week) where we explored and promoted the Murder Mystery genre by having crime scenes around the academy and a Murder Mystery Panic Room in the library, to a visiting author, Joe Craig, who excelled at telling stories and entertaining the students. Students were also able to obtain a signed copy of Joe's books and many took up the offer. Staff read excerpts from their favourite books disguised as books, challenging students to identify them.
During July, as part of Enrichment Week, our students were given the opportunity to attend 'Pop-Up' conferences presented by The National Literacy Trust where literacy was linked with various topics including Shakespeare and Hip-Hop, feats of endurance, journalism and sport, loss, friendships and the refugee crisis and Manga.
Reading for Pleasure
This year students have been able to take part in reading challenges: KS3 World Map of Reading where they were tasked with reading a book from each of the continents and the KS4 16B416 Reading Challenge.
The academy has been buzzing with reading material flying out of the library and into the hands of our young people. Literacy reward points have been in abundance with 117,490 being issued by teachers for literacy and reading activities such as book reviews across the year. Tokens for the Inagural College Reading Trophy have been collected and the final results are
4th place: Shakespeare - 80 tokens
3rd place: Curie - 102 tokens
2nd place: Mandela - 144 tokens
1st place: Seacole - 153 tokens
Congratulations to Seacole College for having the highest number of book worms!
The Virtual Library has increased the amount of literature available and requests for books has gone through the roof!
Seacole College -
Winners of the inaugural College Reading Trophy.
Key Stage 3 Reading Lessons
This year, we have been very fortunate to have been able to find time in a busy curriculum to offer designated reading lessons to Years 7 and 8. The text chosen for the lessons was 'The Outsiders' by SE Hinton. Hinton wrote about her experiences of growing up in a culture divided by social status and was only 17 years old when her novel was published.
'The Outsiders' tells the story of a family of orphaned boys who are part of a large cultural movement and they are known as 'Greasers' because of their rock'a'billy look and greased hair. The Greasers find themselves drawn into a world of violence and murder as they face their arch-enemies, the Socs. This is a story of the pointlessness of hate, gangs and fighting, but also a story of the beauty of relationships and loyalty.
'The Outsiders' has been a really popular text with Year 7 and 8 who have been mature in dealing with some really upsetting themes.
Below are poems written by Ibrahim and Sophia, both, Year 7 Seacole students and they portray the narrative of the story and the characters really well:
Fights everyday
Battles with no peace
Hated for our style
Our unruly hair of grease
We’re hated by our other peers,
Tied in feud with Socs
Nasty pompous lot of them
Their humanity turned to rock
Once in a while, a fight takes place
Pocket knives in our hands
Slashing, punching, fights galore
No one takes a stand
While the thrill of fights are fun
I tired of all this war
Bruises and cuts, I’ve had enough
All of this violence and gore
I miss the days of childhood
The golden haze of content
Dad reading stories every night
Mum’s strawberry scent
By Sophia
OUTSIDERS POEM
In a world of fences,
we stand apart,
Outsiders bound by a beating heart.
Greasers united,
facing the night,
In shadows we thrive,
against the fight.
Ponyboy's dreams,
eyes shining bright,
Soda and Darry,
brothers in the night.
Rebels we are,
Defying the world,
our spirits thereare. Through shattered dreams,
we find our way,
A family forged in darkness,
come what may.
we'll rise above,
Outsiders forever,
bound by love.
By Ibrahim
Next Year...
All things reading based will become even more exciting as we unveil a new range of challenges, designed to intrigue even the most reluctant reader. Stay tuned for more details in September!