Reading

At St James’ reading is central to our curriculum and we strive to create a culture in which our children read fluently, confidently and frequently. Our drive is inspired by the words of Don Bosco, ‘Willingly read good books, preferably those which treat of the Blessed Sacrament and of Mary.’ All children are encouraged to read appropriately challenging texts, which are carefully selected by their specialist teachers across a range of subjects. Our motivation to promote reading and improve reading skills allows all children to access the full curriculum and therefore make the most of the opportunities St James’ has to offer, developing their God-given talents.

Below are a number of ways in which we ensure reading maintains a high profile within our school.

St James’ Don Bosco Library

At St James’, the Don Bosco Library is a welcoming, well resourced and thriving hub, which always has a real buzz about it. We are enthused by Don Bosco’s words, ‘while there are still books to read, I say: Read’ and this fuels our passion to provide a rich and diverse range of texts and resources for our students.

Children are able to access the library at both break and lunch times and can borrow books from our school librarian. The library is also central to many of our regular reading events, such as World Book Day, National Poetry Day, Scholastic Book Fair and many more. This allows our children to experience reading opportunities which they would not normally be able to access. Our library is supported by our fantastic Reading Ambassadors who work to promote the enjoyment of reading amongst their peers through events and activities, as well as ensuring the smooth running of the library.

The St James’ Literary Canon

As part of our ongoing commitment to reading and literacy at St James’, we are excited to have introduced the St James’ Literary Canon this year. This is a collection of age appropriate, suitably challenging modern texts which we feel will support our children in becoming more confident and competent readers, whilst introducing them to concepts, cultures and lives beyond their own as they develop into global Catholic citizens.

Through reading age tests, baseline assessments and analysis of prior attainment data we identify a suitable book for each individual child, which is then supplied for them. Children are actively encouraged to read these books in school and in their free time at home.

Each term every child’s Literary Canon book will be replaced by another suitably challenging, age appropriate modern text. Children are expected to bring their Literary Canon book to school every day.

Below is a list of the texts which our children will be reading as part of the Literary Canon.

‘Strange Worlds and Unique Characters’
Year	Book 1	Book 2	Book 3
7	The Ghost Garden – Emma Carroll	The Haunting of Aveline Jones –  Phil Hickes	Into the Sideways World – Ross Welford
8	Jon for Short – Malorie Blackman	A Place Called Perfect – Helena Duggan	Brightstorm – Vashti Hardy
9	The Starlight Watchmaker – Lauren James	The Giver – Lois Lowry	Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
10	Pale – Chris Wooding	How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff	The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

 

How else is reading supported at St James’?

• Reading across the curriculum – All subject areas promote reading fluency and ensure their text choices are of high quality and offer suitable challenge for all children. All subjects ensure that children are exposed to extended reading, whether this be through texts in class or through home learning tasks.
• Reading in English – All Key Stage 3 classes enjoy discreet ‘reading time’ within their English lessons. This can be independent reading, group reading or children having the opportunity to listen to the teacher modelling ‘expert’ reading.
• Regular reading age tests – Year 7 children complete reading age tests to allow us to better understand their reading ability. This ensures that all teachers are including suitable challenge and also adapting their teaching to allow any necessary support.