Updated August 2024
At the Bulwell Academy, we know that reading is key to students success. We have worked to ensure that our understanding of students’ reading needs is robust and that we are strategic in implementing interventions that are going to allow them to make significant progress. The interventions are supported by the classroom strategies that support students’ reading development.
This is a small group intervention for Year 7 where students develop their phonics skills. The lessons focus on the letters and sounds students need to know to read accurately. Students are grouped with other students who are at a similar level to them.
We have small group guided reading sessions. This is to support reading fluency and comprehension. Students read aloud and answer questions about what they have read. They discuss their predictions for the book and key vocabulary that they come across.
We use Lexia Power-Up in our literacy club that runs twice a week after school (sign up here). This is an intervention that is delivered on a computer and assesses the student’s individual reading needs, providing a tailored programme specifically for the individual student. Students develop their vocabulary, grammar and comprehension knowledge using the interactive software. Students can access Lexia from home using the student portal and their login information.
Thinking Reading is a decoding and fluency intervention that has been proven to help students to make rapid progress with reading.
According to research, students make on average 3 months progress per lesson. Students, staff and parents have noticed the confidence that students on the programme have gained.