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Reading at SEACA
At Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic Academy, we understand how powerful and important reading is for empowering and inspiring our pupils. We strive to ensure that our pupils love reading and derive a real sense of joy from what they read.
Big investment, even bigger impact!
As a result of our significant investment in and commitment to reading in all areas of our academy, 85% of all pupils improved their reading age last year between September and July. 25% of these pupils improved their reading age by 36 months whilst 45% of pupils improved their reading age by 25 months. Importantly, boys improved their reading age at a comparable rate to girls and we have seen an overall 20% uplift in pupils now reading in line with their chronological age or above.
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum...
At SEACA reading is a fundamental part of curriculum design and implementation in every subject area. In addition to this, our onsite library is well stocked with books that support curriculum implementation and every subject has a reading list that pupils can access in our library. The library is open before, during and after school for pupils' enjoyment and/or to support their studies.
Love of Reading...
To support our pupils in developing a love of reading they engage with a form time reading curriculum which is rooted in SEACA’s personal development offer. Please see the link below for further information.
Additionally, all Year 7 and Year 8 pupils are provided with a free book of their choice each year which is sourced through the Book Trust’s, Book Buzz Scheme. Furthermore, several of our co-curricular clubs such as ‘The Dungeons and Dragons Club’ and the ‘Carnegie Shadowing Reading Club’ provide further opportunities to engage with and develop a love of reading whilst a strong partnership with the Shakespeare North Playhouse is developing the inner thespian in all of our pupils: every pupil at SEACA was offered a trip to the SNP theatre as part of our wider curriculum offer.
Closing the Reading Gap at SEACA:
We increasingly see pupils arriving to us at SEACA having not made age related progress with their reading at primary school and we are quick to react to this through our suite of interventions offered by our skilled inclusion team in The Zone. Interventions are targeted to individual pupil needs including improving phonics, decoding, word recognition and comprehension. At SEACA we have a graduated range of interventions including Lexonic LEAP, Lexonic Advance, Read – Write – Ink, and IDL to ensure that reading gaps are closed rapidly using the right approach for every pupil.
Reading Challenge
Parents, please encourage your son or daughter to pick up one of these wonderful books from our reading challenge list. They can be found in our library.