Reading at Penketh High
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance.
Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.
Reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.
Our reading Curriculum supports our pupils throughout Key Stage 3 to improve their reading skills as well as exposing them to a wider range of reading materials to foster a love of reading.
Reading for Pleasure
Throughout Key Stage 3, all pupils have a reading session once a week. The novels and poetry collections have been chosen to allow pupils to experience a range of topics, styles and genres to support their own wider reading.
These sessions are supported by discussions and activities that allow pupils to develop their own opinions and gain confidence in a range of reading strategies.
| Autumn | Spring | Summer | |
| Y7 | Everything all at once – Steven Camden
|
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Ayre – A retelling by Tanya Landman | Twelfth day of July – Joan Lingard |
| Y8 | Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – A retelling by Tanya Landman
|
The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon | The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon |
| Y9 | Animal Farm – George Orwell | To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee | To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee |
To support reading at home, take a look at these reading lists:
Books-for-Reluctant-Readers.pdf
Reading Curriculum
Pupils follow a structured reading curriculum, one hour a week. Pupils are exposed to the skills to make them effective readers to ensure all pupils who leave PSH are ‘word rich’.
| Effective reader strategies: | |
| Predict | Make informed guesses about the text |
| Skim | Read quickly through the text to get the gist of understanding |
| Scan | Quickly search through a text searching for a specific word/phrase/number |
| Read closely | Pay close attention to sentences, taking time to understand meaning |
| Question | Ask questions about a text to clarify ideas |
| Read backwards and forwards | The confidence to move through a text, including re-reading, to make connections or clarify ideas |
| Empathise | Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and feel what they feel |
| Visualise | See a picture in your mind to gain a better impression or understanding of a text |
| Infer | Read between the lines to find the writer’s intended meaning |
Extracts are taken from novels as well as non-fiction texts. You might want to carry on reading them so here is a list, be aware that some of the novels have some mature content in other parts of the novel.
Y7 Reading from extracts
- Harry Potter (a series) – J K Rowling
- Mallory Towers (a series) – Enid Blyton
- The fun they had (short story) – Isaac Asminov
- Middle School – The worst years of my life (a series) – James Patterson
- Matilda – Roald Dahl
- Night School (a series) – CJ Daugherty (recommended for 14+)
Y8 Reading from extracts
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
- Madame Doubtfire – Anne Fine
- The Princess Bride – William Goldman
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
- The Secret diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾ – Sue Townsend
- To all the boys I’ve loved before (a series) – Jenny Han (recommended for 13+)
- Wuthering Heights – A retelling – Tanya Landman
- Twilight (a series) – Stephenie Meyer (recommended for 13+)
Y9 Reading from extracts
- I know why the caged bird sings (a series) – Maya Angelou (recommended for 14+)
- The Devil wears Prada – Laura Weisberger (recommended for 15+)
- Animal Farm – George Orwell
- Harrison Bergeron (a short story) – Kurt Vonnegut
- Lord of the Flies – William Golding
- 1984 – George Orwell
Enrichment
Holistic development provides enrichment experiences to support wider engagement and develop key learning characteristics important for future study and employment. These experiences can help develop passions for life and facilitate successful lifelong learners. Within the Reading Curriculum we offer a number of enrichment opportunities within our Enrichment sessions as well as Author visits and workshops and links with colleges and universities.
Assessment and Support
Pupils have formative assessments each term which allow their progress to be monitored. We then provide support as needed both in school and resources for support at home.
