Trinity School Reading
Whether or not reading is something that we enjoy, we cannot deny that the ability to read is a fundamental skill that needs to be recognised, harnessed and embraced. Reading is essential to access the curriculum but perhaps even more importantly reading provides a form of escape and inspiration, transporting us into another world, away from the day-to-day reality. Â
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Reading is a crucial element of every student’s education, a fundamental activity for development which evokes curiosity as they visualise and imagine, boosting memory cells along the way.  Through reading, children learn about new places, people and events.  They gain exposure to new ideas and beliefs, understand how to be more tolerant and appreciate the perspective of others.  As children improve their reading skills, they sharpen their comprehension and analytical thinking ability, as well as their understanding of technical and critical language.
DEAR (Drop Everything And Read)
It is well documented that students’ reading habits are changing. Some may even argue that students are not reading less; they are just reading differently. But as teachers, we know how important it is to carry out sustained reading over time.  ‘Drop Everything and Read’ is used to support key stage three in achieving the recommended 20 minutes of daily reading they should be doing.
DEAR is a regular time set aside in the classroom schedule for both students and teachers to simply ‘drop everything and read’. DEAR is designed to help students hone their concentration, widen their cultural capital and nurture reading for pleasure. Reading avidly and strengthening associated literacy skills has been highlighted as the ‘gateway’ to unlock students’ potential to achieve their aspirations in every academic subject.
For all key stage three students, DEAR takes place at the start of each school day. Each student is asked to bring a book of their choosing to read, this can be a book from home or from the school library.
Group DEAR, delivered once a week during afternoon form time, involves the reading aloud of a chosen text, followed by Think Aloud questions and discussions. Reading aloud to children has a profound effect on their reading ability. With the spoken word, we hear the expression and intonation that is essential for language learning and vocabulary acquisition. The emphasis and inflection implicit in the spoken language communicates a large amount of additional information about a word. All the books on the DEAR programme have been carefully selected to develop students’ range of vocabulary, but also, to provide them with important cultural capital. In short, not just knowledge of words, but knowledge of the world.Â
Think Aloud
A strategic reader successfully co-ordinates up to 8 key comprehension reading strategies, knowing when and how to use each. Therefore, a strategic reader is actively involved in the reading process – holding a running dialogue with a text. The practice of readers thinking about their thinking whilst reading is known as metacognition. Not only does metacognition allow readers to strategically negotiate appropriate meaning, but it also enables assessment of comprehension, encouraging adjustment of strategies for great success.
Think Aloud, based around the four reading strategies of prediction, question, clarify and summarise, forms the basis of year seven and eight library lessons, providing an opportunity to explicitly and regularly practise the reading strategies.
Reading at Home
Reading can provide comfort and support when you are at home- even a form of escapism and privacy. Reading may even provide some answers in a hectic life.Â
Studies show that the top 10% of students read more than 40 minutes a day, whilst the bottom 10% read less than 2 minutes a day. Anderson, Wilson and Fielding (1988).
A student that reads for 30 minutes a day at home reads for an extra 10,950 minutes a year. Over the course of their secondary school education that amounts to 54,750 minutes.Â
We cannot stress enough how important reading at home is.
