Reading
Why is reading so important?
Whether or not reading is something we enjoy, we cannot deny that the ability to read is a fundamental skill and to be able to read with confidence is very important. In a world where there are so many other things we could be doing with our time, reading often falls to the bottom of the pile. With a screen to entertain us, why would anyone take the time to pick up a book? Here is why……
- Reading increases vocabulary and helps to improve communication skills
- Reading makes us better spellers and writers
- Reading improves focus and concentration
- Reading improves imagination
- Reading reduces stress
- Reading improves memory
- Reading increases intellect and leads to academic success
- Reading increases capacity for empathy
- Reading is entertaining
Research suggests Children who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly. At King James’s your child will be encouraged to read in different ways throughout the curriculum in lesson time and your child will also be asked to read through homework’s set by subject teachers. Each subject has chosen 5 important texts for each key stage that we recommend your child reads. All these books can be found in the library.
How will we encourage students to read at KJS?
Reading in lessons is reading aloud – that when the teacher/teaching assistant or learning mentor reads aloud to the class. Pupils may be asked to re-read texts independently in close reading or subject lessons, or when undertaking assessments, but generally we won’t ask pupils to engage in “silent reading” during teaching time. This is because this precious time with an expert teacher is not used to full effect when pupils are reading silently. Those pupils that can already read fluently may enjoy this time, but they are also capable of reading independently at home, and school should be a place they come to learn what they would not or can not do at home. However, more importantly, struggling readers are left without support during “silent reading” and will likely disengage causing them to fall further behind, and reinforcing for them that reading is not for them.
Different teaching methods …
Pupils will be rewarded for reading. In addition to giving positives to encourage reading, we will run competitions to support our reading programme. Students will gain house points for reading in lessons and outside the curriculum. The library also run the Accelerated Reader programme and students are rewarded for their effort, achievement and progress in the subject.
What can I do at home to support my child’s reading development?
At Key Stage 3 you can ….
- Help your child to find a text that they enjoy. Let your child see you reading and discuss books that you have read.
- Visit local libraries and book shops regularly and look for books that link to your child’s interests, films or hobbies. Choose books that are an appropriate reading level, to avoid frustration.
- News articles, current events, comics and non-fiction books are all good ways of encouraging reading for pleasure.
- It is recommended that 15-30 minutes of reading will have great benefits and will help students to develop a love of reading. If your child is willing, choose sections of the text to discuss and tease out some of the issues that crop up.
At Key Stage 4 & 5 you can ….
- Open a discussion about what your child dislikes, or finds difficult about reading and try to establish a way to make a change.
- Encourage your child to find texts they enjoy; choice and interest is key. This can be non-fiction and extracts rather than a whole text to start. You may find text ideas together, from your own selection, or seek advice from school. Use the school library or English department to access fiction and non-fiction extracts for them to explore. This will establish the right subject matter, before concentrating on an entire text.
- Seek out fiction and/ or non-fiction linked to your child’s interests. Biographies of well- known Scientists, The Enigma Machine for students who enjoy maths for example.
- Model reading by reading yourself and discuss the texts you are reading. This doesn’t have to be a book. It can newspapers, blogs etc.
Useful links for parents
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/advice-for-parents/reading-at-home/helping-struggling-readers/top-tips-for-helping-struggling-readers-at-home/ – This website is with tips to help struggling readers
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/
https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/
Pageturners
At KJS we value the skill of reading for learning and seek to find ways to enable students to extend their skill and love of reading as well as improving their wider cultural knowledge of the world around them. We are passionate that all students at King James’s are fluent readers who love reading. That is why every student in Year 7 to 9 will spend time reading high quality, challenging books, which their tutor reads aloud to the group. By reading to them, we can supplement the text with valuable context that boosts student knowledge and understanding, drawing links and parallels to content in the wider curriculum.
The aim of Pageturners is to ensure that every student reads a range of carefully selected texts throughout Key Stage 3, so they are instilled with the knowledge to think critically and creatively. We also want our students to enjoy reading and become confident readers who read both at school and at home. All students will read the same books so we are creating a reading community where students and staff can discuss topical issues. We want to create a buzz around reading that will lead to more students reading for pleasure but also being empowered to become better and more confident learners.
World Book Day
Library links
Recommended reads for pupils and parents
Reading in the English department
Year 7 Pageturners
Cirque du Freak is the first of twelve novels in The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan. The chilling Saga of Darren Shan, the ordinary schoolboy plunged into the vampire world.
Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It’s the wonderfully gothic Cirque Du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience. Darren – a spider freak – ‘falls in love’ with Madam Octa – an enormous tarantala owned by Mr Crepsley. Darren determines to steal the spider so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds. But his daring theft goes horribly wrong and Darren finds himself having to make a bargain with a creature of the night.
Something out of the ordinary is set against the background of children’s normal lives to chilling effect. Atmospheric, funny, realistic, moving and… terrifying.
Alem is on holiday with his father for a few days in London. He has never been out of Ethiopia before and is very excited. They have a great few days togther until one morning when Alem wakes up in the bed and breakfast they are staying at to find the unthinkable. His father has left him. It is only when the owner of the bed and breakfast hands him a letter that Alem is given an explanation. Alem’s father admits that because of the political problems in Ethiopia both he and Alem’s mother felt Alem would be safer in London – even though it is breaking their hearts to do this. Alem is now on his own, in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council. He lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear from his father, and in particular about his mother, who has now gone missing.
A powerful, gripping novel from the popular Benjamin Zephaniah
Year 8 Pageturners
A memoir by the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace prize.
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Two bothers, Damian and Anthony, are unwittingly caught up in a train robbery during Britain’s countdown to join the Euro. Suddenly finding themselves with a vast amount of cash, the boys have just one glorious, appalling dilemma — how to spend it in the few days before it becomes worthless. Torn between the vices of buying a million pizzas and the virtues of ending world poverty, the boys soon discover that being rich is a mug’s game. For not only is the clock ticking — the bungling bank robbers are closing in. Pizzas or World Peace, what would you choose?
Year 9 Pageturners
Stone Cold is an exciting and disturbing thriller by Robert Swindells
A tense, exciting thriller combined with a perceptive and harrowing portrait of life on the streets as a serial killer preys on the young and vulnerable homeless. 17-year-old Link is distrustful of people until he pairs up with Deb, homeless like him. But what Deb doesn’t tell him is that she’s an ambitious young journalist on a self-imposed assignment to track down the killer and that she’s prepared to use herself as bait …
Winner of the Carnegie Medal
Winner of the Newbery Medal, National Book Award and selected as one of Time Magazine’s 100 best YA books of all time.
Stanley Yelnats’ family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn’t green and doesn’t have a lake) he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. The evil warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie and Stanley must dig up the truth.