At Maltby Academy, we believe that literacy and reading are the most important gateways we have to the wider world. Books are a vital learning tool, and they play a pivotal role in our understanding of ideas, cultures and histories that are different from our own.

We passionately believe that students at Maltby Academy deserve the opportunity to develop their own perspectives of the world around them. Ultimately, we hope that they will use these perspectives to shape their own understanding of themselves, and the roles that they will play in the wider world once they leave us. Subsequently, we are continuously striving to provide our students with the skills and encouragement to engage with, and enjoy, a wide range of texts. We aim to create a lifelong love of reading and to ensure that our young people gain the confidence to express themselves freely – benefitting them, not just in school, but throughout their entire lives. We are excited to share this journey with you!

HOW WE APPROACH READING AT MALTBY ACADEMY

Crucially, we understand that reading and literacy are the responsibility of every adult within school.

As such, to support all our students in building upon their reading skills and passion, we have developed consistent approaches to encountering – and understanding - texts that are used in all curriculum areas across school. They include, but are not limited to:

• Exposure to a variety of texts through the curriculum.
• Fostering an enjoyment of reading through dedicated Relax & Read time.
• Whole school approaches to encountering & understanding new texts and vocabulary.

Across all subject areas, we seek to:

• Provide opportunities for students to be curious before reading something: this could be providing them with: an image, title, topic, big question or quotation.
• Chunk texts and differentiate these sections, for students.
• Use images to aid understanding.
• Assign reading roles to students in groups
• Encourage students to ask questions as they read.
• Model the process of summarising what has been read.
• Encourage students to have a personal response to what they have read.
• Allow students the chance to respond to each other’s questions about a text.
• Set comprehension questions, where appropriate.