4 February 2025
Dear Parent/Carer
A child’s reading skills are important to their success in school as they will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their both their skills in writing and communicating with others. One of our core values at Erdington Academy is integrity; reading allows us to foster critical thinking skills, allowing us to: evaluate information from various perspectives; identify biases; and accurately represent the views of others – which ultimately leads us to be more honest and responsible in our decision-making and actions; essentially, by exposing ourselves to diverse viewpoints and analysing information thoughtfully, we develop a stronger ethical compass and commitment to truthfulness
Furthermore, we understand that there is a clear correlation between students’ reading ages and their educational outcomes. That’s why we encourage reading across every part of the curriculum and place such value in being a word-rich school.
We feel it is important to share the initiatives that we are doing, and we hope you will support us in promoting the joy of reading:
World Book Day
With World Book Day approaching on 6th March, we have a range of exciting activities for students to get involved in. Please encourage your child to read for pleasure at home and add to the excitement by allowing them to get their FREE book with the book token that will be given to them.
Form Time Reading
Twice a week during form time, students are reading a fiction novel, taken from our School Reading Canon. This is a teacher led activity whereby, the teacher reads aloud, and students follow along with their finger, pen, or ruler and are able to engage in reflective questions on what they have read. The texts are chosen deliberately to become a ‘gateway’ for genres that students can then read independently.
School Reading Canon
These are a collection of books for students in each year group that have cross-curricular links to other subjects and expose our students to some of the best literary works produced – both old and new. Students have Canon Cards which are ticked off for the books they have read on the Canon and a completed card will result in a Literacy prize/ award.
Interventions
We have a range of reading interventions taking place to ensure that we can support our students to achieve the highest reading age that they can. Interventions help to build on their ability to decode words, whilst teaching them new ones and enhance their understanding of what is being read in texts.
‘Control the Game’
‘Control the Game’ is our school wide reading strategy that involves the students reading aloud in class, in an unpredictable order. This helps the teacher to harvest valuable reading data on students across the curriculum and heighten student engagement and processing of reading texts in each lesson. By the end of this academic year, students should experience a familiarity and confidence with this approach to reading, in all subjects.
School Library
The library is a space that aims to encourage, inspire, and cultivate a love of reading for pleasure. We want to ensure it remains a calm and peaceful place for students to spend their break and lunchtimes, whether that be for studying, revising, or reading quietly.
To ensure that the library maintains its calm and purposeful atmosphere, we will be re-introducing a ‘pass-system’ for students to gain entry to the library at social times. Any student who would like to use the library during social times must adhere to the following expectations:
- You must have pre-approval by the librarian or another member of staff in the form of a Library pass.
- Students must be doing something productive e.g. reading quietly, revising, or completing homework.
- The computers are for study purposes/ reading only. No games.
- Coats must be off upon entering the top library door.
- No food or drink (all food must be consumed before entering the library.) Bottled water is acceptable.
- No mobile phones.
- ‘First time, every time.’ If students do not meet any of the expectations above, they will be asked to leave the library. Consistent poor behaviour will lead to removal of library privileges.
Online Library
We recognise that technology is paving the way for the future and that we must work with it to positively impact our students. That being said, we have an online School Reading Library that students can access from their phones to read online versions of the texts they love and are studying anywhere in the world. This is ideal for school holidays and weekends, when students feel that they are less able to access the resources they would like and need. (To access our online library please follow: www.soraapp.com/welcome/search and search ‘Erdington Academy’).
I hope these insights give you an idea of the strategies and systems we put into place to ensure all our students have the best opportunities. If you would like any further information, please contact me at the Academy.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Mabbett
Assistant Principal.
