Good literacy is vital to academic success. If you are not a capable and confident reader you will struggle to access the curriculum and will have difficulty building, and then demonstrating knowledge and understanding more widely.
Building our students’ literacy is of such critical importance that it is now a key priority of our School Development Plan and we are working with students from Year 7 to Year 13 to help ensure that they develop the necessary proficiency to enjoy success, and also reading!
Since September 2018 all students at Highgate Wood School enjoy 15 minutes of Dedicated Reading Time. In Years 7, 8 and 9 this means being engaged in reading, fiction or non-fiction with the rest of their tutor group, making use of Accelerated Reader to help ensure their skills are developing and they are engaged in reading at the right level.
Year 10 and 11 students participate in a variety of activities, including reading, which are focused on developing the literacy skills needed for external assessments, mastering the specialist vocabulary more generally. Sixth formers are also engaged in a wide range of initiatives connected to developing literacy; ranging from working with the younger students and supporting them as readers, to having a lending library in the sixth form block, university style “reading weeks” and sessions to help them become critical readers, more discerning about the validity of news reportage and being able to identify fake news.