At Pine Green Academy we recognise the importance of reading.
Students who can read are more likely to achieve in school and have positive life outcomes.
Research has linked age-appropriate reading ability with greater rates of employment, a reduced chance of homelessness, divorce, health problems and criminal offending. Research has also linked poor reading ability with lower employment prospects, home ownership, political engagement and life satisfaction (Dugdale and Clark, 2008a; Parsons and Bynner, 2008).
Nevertheless, we recognise the majority of students at Pine Green have experienced difficulties in education and may have experienced extended and prolonged periods out of education. As such, students may have difficulties with reading, may have difficulties that have not been diagnosed or simply may not read for pleasure.
The difficulties students experience, whether they have been diagnosed or not, may be profound and consistent of multiple layers of difficulty. Students may experience ‘Cognition & Learning’ difficulties, ‘Social, Emotional & Mental Health’ and ‘Communication and Interaction’ needs and may not have been frequently exposed to fundamental basics that they need to access the curriculum.
As such, the majority of students in Pine Green Academy may need to be screened for phonics and reading difficulties and will require extra support with reading.
In both our ‘Reading Policy’ and ‘Reading Strategy’ Document, you will find details regarding the steps we take to screen and detect difficulties, the programmes we run to support students and the systems we have to ensure that students are making progress.
These documents detail the whole school approach to reading across the Academy to ensure the students who are behind age-expected standards, are afforded every opportunity to succeed.
Below, you will also find attached our 'Curriculum Sequencing' document which describes in detail, how we identify students with reading difficulties, how we measure progress, how we respond to gaps and deepen the reading skills of our young people.
We also understand the importance of encouraging students to read at home. As we work towards Parents having an understanding of Phonics so that they can support children with phonics at home, our 'Reading Journeys' encourage students to develop a love of reading. Each Year Group is given it's own 'Reading Journey' where students are encourage to read a wide range of books, magazines and other sources of literature. Students are also encouraged to talk about the books that they have read and speak to others about what they are reading. Students and parents are also directed to many different sources of literature including school and public libraries, website and beyond.
