Literacy including Rise and Read
Rise and Read Programme
In October, all Year 7 students begin our Rise and Read programme. Students make their way into School at 7.30 am on Wednesdays and Thursdays, where they take part in bespoke sessions created to encourage a love of reading as well as boost their skills in decoding, fluency, vocabulary and reasoning.
Students are grouped into appropriate groups which are supportive and challenging. Our more confident readers will be taking part in activities based on texts which cover many key issues relevant to young teenagers. Students explore these texts through a wide range of activities: debates, journal writing as response, and reciprocal reading.
Our less confident readers will be in small, supportive groups designed to make accelerated progress and allow them to meet the increasing literacy demands of secondary school education. We often lead with the Rapid Plus programme, which was developed to support KS3 struggling, EAL, and SEN readers. This gives students the opportunity to see themselves as 'real readers' for the first time, and teachers report seeing them grow more confident across all of their subjects.
More than just an academic intervention, Rise and Read is essential to building the resilience we want our students to develop as members of the Rodillian student body. We look forward to Rising and Reading with you!
Rise and Read Testimonials
"Rise and Read has helped me with the understanding of many words, from the Clarifier (reciprocal reading role) helping me with words I'm not sure of. It has also made me more confident reading out loud to other people. I have enjoyed making new friends and reading a new, interesting book. I have also enjoyed meeting new teachers in the process." - BC
"Rise and Read has helped me with my reading by inspiring me to read and increasing my skill. I have enjoyed the privilege of reading in the tranquil environment (also the biscuits)!” - FT
“The book (The Boy at the Back of the Class) is very good and it taught us about refugees. In Rise and Read you improve your reading.” - KW
"The Rise and Read teachers are very nice because they help us improve our reading level." - DP
"Rise and Read has helped me by working with others better and communicating with them, working as a team and helping each other with questions and information. I have enjoyed talking to my new friends and we are feeling better about reading now." - SG
"I enjoyed Rise and Read because it has helped me be more confident in front of people. I enjoyed reading with my friends." MG
"Rise and Read has helped my confidence in reading out loud by a lot. When Rise and Read just began, I had a hard time reading and got a lot of words wrong - now, I have improved. I have enjoyed how when in groups, your friends listen when you want to read and you can listen to them and help them improve every week." - SM
"I enjoyed doing activities and learning in different ways, reading plenty of stories and challenging Miss in the question game." - OM
Some Selected Rise and Read Literature
- The Boy at the Back of the Class - Onjali Q Rauf
- Rise of the Wolves - Kerr Thomson
- October, October - Katya Balen
- Black and British (A Short, Essential History) - David Olusoga
- The Hypnotist - Lawrence Anholt
- Still Water - Chris Priestley
- The Disconnect - Keren David
- Pigeon English - Stephen Kelman
- Twitch - M.G. Leonard
- World Burn Down - Steve Cole
- The Wild Robot - Peter Brown
- African and Caribbean Folktales, Myths and Legends - Wendy Shearer
- Boy 87 - Ele Fountain
- Boonie - Richard Masson
- Stonebird - Mike Revell
Accelerated Reader
In addition to the four English lessons a week, Year 7 and 8 pupils participate in one dedicated reading lesson per week. Here, our appropriately and well-stocked library provides thousands of up-to-date titles (as well as all the classics) provides endless reading opportunities. The books are linked to the Accelerated Reader programme which quizzes children on the books they read, recommends titles which will stretch them and charts their progress as they read progressively more difficult books.
As well as benefitting from teacher input, students who are identified as needing support and intervention are supported by our Sixth Form students, who read with them, helping them develop their fluency and vocabulary.
Reading is also encouraged in Form and at home.
Bookbuzz
Our Year 7 students all benefit from our Bookbuzz scheme, which allows us to give students the opportunity to choose their own book to take home and keep, from a wide range of high-quality titles. All the titles are carefully selected to ensure quality, suitability and - above all - to encourage reading for pleasure.
